Louisiana voters approve an amendment saying there is no constitutional right to abortion while Colorado votes to strike down measure prohibiting procedures after 22 weeks
Voters in Louisiana voted on Tuesday to declare that there was no given state right to an abortion, making it so that it was not a constitutional right to even fund the procedure.
The assertion is something that could come into play if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
The following language will be added to the state's constitution: 'To protect human life, nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.'
Louisiana's amendment could come into play if the Supreme Court overturn its Roe v. Wade decision. Voters in New Orleans
Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia already have similar constitutional language, Mother Jones reports.
There are only three abortion clinics running in Louisiana.
As of 2018, the state had the third-highest poverty rate in the nation - 20 per cent - making residents more likely to need access to abortion services.
There are only three abortion clinics running in Louisiana
In Colorado, by contrast, voters defeated a measure to prohibit abortions after 22 weeks unless the pregnant woman's life is endangered.
Previous Colorado ballot initiatives to limit abortion also failed in 2008, 2010 and 2014.
Over the summer, the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics – with Chief Justice John Roberts once again joining with liberals on a major decision this term.
The court in its ruling reasserted a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era – after Trump had already succeeded in installing two conservatives on the court.
Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues ruling that the law requiring doctors who perform abortions have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals violates the abortion right the court first announced in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
The following language will be added to the Louisiana's constitution: 'To protect human life, nothing in this constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion'