The Republican-controlled Louisiana House of Representatives voted 64-29 Tuesday night to advance a bill that would criminalize forced abortions “by fraudulent means” and make it illegal to possess two abortion pills without a valid prescription. .
The bill, now before the state Senate, would impose fines of $50,000 to $100,000 and 10 to 20 years in prison for coercers who prey on unsuspecting pregnant mothers “without their knowledge or consent.” It also “amends various abortion criminal laws and adds the crime of attempted abortion.”
The bill drew the ire of pro-life groups and Vice President Kamala Harris, who said it was “absolutely unreasonable.”
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The Republican-controlled Louisiana House of Representatives introduced a bill Tuesday night that would criminalize forced abortion “through fraudulent means.” (Darrin Oswald/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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State Sen. Thomas Pressly responded to Harris’ comments, saying “blatantly lying about my bill is unconscionable.”
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Senate Bill 276, known as the “Katherine and Josephine Herring Act,” was created in honor of the mother and daughter of the same name. Abortifacients, for which they suffered forced abortions. Herring is the bill’s author’s sister.
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An amendment to the bill also classifies the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances but allows doctors to prescribe them for non-abortion purposes, shielding women from penalties. (AP Photo/Charlie Nyberg)
“I was given no ‘choice’ when my husband slipped the abortion pill into my drink seven times,” Herring said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “I suffered severe side effects from the medication. . I believe that if I had not taken the reverse dose progesterone abortion pill, my daughter’s life would have ended. As a survivor of domestic violence, I am grateful that the state of Louisiana is willing to protect women and children from violence.
In February, Catherine’s husband, Mason Herring, pleaded guilty to charges of injuring a child and assaulting a pregnant woman and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
An amendment to the bill also classifies the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol as controlled substances but allows doctors to prescribe them for non-abortion purposes, explicitly shielding women from punishment.
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Louisiana State Capitol (Chris Grayson/Getty Images)
Caitlin Connors, regional director of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony of America, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the bill “comes at a time when pro-life Democrats are allowing abortion “Visitation is necessary in a world where abusers coerce and poison mothers with dangerous abortifacients by expelling on-site doctors” and granting immunity to abortion providers through shield laws. ”
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The move comes in an election year as Democrats try to put the abortion issue at the center of voters’ minds. After achieving their decades-long goal of ending Roe v. Wade, Republicans have struggled to take a broad stance on the issue.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
