Abortion

Louisiana House Committee Passes Sex-Selective Abortion Ban

A GOP-led Louisiana house committee passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit women from seeking abortions due to the sex of the fetus, even though there remains no documentation that sex-selective abortions are widespread in the United States.

A GOP-led Louisiana house committee passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit women from seeking abortions due to the sex of the fetus, even though there remains no documentation that sex-selective abortions are widespread in the United States. Shutterstock

A GOP-led Louisiana house committee passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit women from seeking abortions due to the sex of the fetus, even though there remains no documentation that sex-selective abortions are widespread in the United States.

HB 701, sponsored by Rep. Lenar Whitney (R-Houma), would prohibit physicians from intentionally performing or attempting to perform an abortion if they know that the pregnant person is seeking the abortion because of the sex of the fetus.

The Republican bill prohibits any penalty from being imposed against the person seeking the abortion, but would allow the father or a grandparent of the aborted fetus to sue the physician or anyone who assisted in performing the procedure.

A receptionist who schedules the appointment or accepts payment, or nurses who assist the physician, could be held civilly culpable under the legislation. Damages for up to $10,000 could be sought from those who believe the abortion was based on the sex of the fetus.

The bill states that an abortion procedure does not actually have to be initiated to be considered an “attempt to perform an abortion.”

An amendment was added to the bill during the hearing that would require the physician or nurse to tell the pregnant person the sex of the fetus if detectable via ultrasound.

Whitney said during the hearing that the anti-choice legislation is needed to prevent sex discrimination. “We need to make sure that baby girls are not aborted in Louisiana simply because they are baby girls,” Whitney said, reported the Associated Press.

There are no studies or reports proving sex-selective abortions are a widespread problem in the United States. Proponents of the bans often justify them by using cultural stereotypes that target immigrant women of color.

A report from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) found that the bans target and “thus limits reproductive health access for Asian American and Pacific Islander women.”

Reproductive rights organizations, including Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, the National Association of Social Workers, Louisiana NOW, and the New Orleans Abortion Fund, oppose the legislation.

Ellie Schilling, an attorney who represents abortion providers and clinics, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that the legislation is an attempt to intimidate abortion providers. “It’s meant to have a chilling effect on physicians and staff members [by] putting this potential liability out there,” Schilling said.

Whitney said that countries in Asia have a significant problem with women seeking abortions after determining the sex of the fetus was female. She said that there are similar instances in the United States, though she didn’t list any specific examples.

“Legislation that bans sex-selective abortion is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Miriam Yeung, executive director of NAPAWF, said in a statement. “What politicians have attempted to pass off as a measure to protect women’s rights is really just another attempt to regulate abortion out of existence. Moreover, this legislation fuels dangerous, false stereotypes that Asian American families do not value girls.”

More than 85,000 Asian Americans call Louisiana home, and the Asian-American community grew by 31 percent over the past ten years.

A recent study from the University of Chicago Law School shows that Asian-American families are actually giving birth to more girls than white American families.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors last year passed a resolution condemning sex-selective abortion bans, an effort praised by reproductive rights advocates, who said such measures push back against the stereotypes of Asian-American women used to justify such bans.

Several bills have been introduced by anti-choice state lawmakers this year that would ban sex-selective abortions. Seven states have laws banning sex-selective abortions: Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota.

No member of Louisiana’s House Health and Welfare Committee objected to the bill, which will now move to the full house for further consideration.