Yesterday afternoon, the Louisiana Senate and Louisiana House of Representatives gave final approval to HB 425, the Love Life Amendment, by accepting the conference committee report. Among the conference committee report changes include placing the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 3, 2020 ballot instead of the Oct. 12, 2019 ballot. The Nov. 3, 2020 ballot will include the Presidential general election.
The House voted 78-21 for the bill; the Senate voted 33-5 in favor of the bill.
Once approved by voters, the Love Life Amendment, Louisiana Right to Life’s 2019 flagship legislation, will ensure there is no right to abortion or the taxpayer funding of abortion in Louisiana’s Constitution.
Benjamin Clapper, Executive Director of Louisiana Right to Life, said the following after the votes were taken: “Today, Louisiana took further steps by passing the Love Life Amendment to ensure we will never become like New York, which legalized abortion up until moments before birth. The Supreme Courts of 13 other states, including New York and as recently as Kansas, have ‘discovered’ a right to abortion in their state constitutions, striking down common-sense pro-life laws in the short term and ensuring abortion-on-demand in their states even if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Louisiana cannot let that happen here.
“While we began this process with the intention of having the Love Life Amendment voted on in 2019, we respect the decision of the Legislature to place the amendment on the 2020 ballot. We look forward to having as many Louisianians as possible vote to place our pro-life values of respecting every human life at the heart of our state.”
Dorinda Bordlee of the Bioethics Defense Fund said that “if and when Roe v. Wade is reversed and the issue is sent back to the states, this constitutional amendment will block the efforts of abortion industry lawyers to get Louisiana state court judges to impose the trauma and violence of abortion through our state constitution.”