Rep. Katrina Jackson and Rep. Pat Moore both supported Louisiana’s new law outlawing all abortion if a heartbeat can be detected in the fetus. They took a moral position, even though it might be out of step with the views of many of the women in their constituency.
The new law makes it illegal in Louisiana for any doctor to perform an abortion if a heartbeat can be detected in the fetus, with only one exception, if the life of the mother is at risk.
Both Jackson and Moore, are devout practicing Christians, they did not hide their views when they ran for election and they were elected with all their cards on the table. So, there was no deception or betrayal on their part. Both of the women believe that life begins at conception and that while a woman has a right to make decisions about her own body, she does not have the right to make life or death decisions about the baby she carries.
Many of the women in her district, according to Free Press online polls, agree with Jackson, Moore and others who pushed the new law, that abortions should not be legal in Louisiana, but they have some conditions.
Women indicate that they believe the heartbeat law is fine but they would have preferred that exceptions would be added for rape and incest. They believe that no woman should be allowed to carry to term the child born of rape or incestuous encounters.
The Louisiana legislators refused all exceptions for another reason. They want the case to be prohibitive. They want it to be outlawed in the district courts. They want it to outlawed by appeals courts. They want the case to work its way up to the United States Supreme Court.
Once at the Supreme Court they are hoping that the new conservative majority of the Supreme Court will override Roe vs Wade, a Supreme Court Decision that affirmed that a fetus is not a human being and that a woman who carries a fetus is not a mother and thus has the right to decide what happens to her own body.
President Donald Trump appointed two conservative Justices to the Supreme Court in a calculated attempt to be ready to act on the first case worthy of Supreme Court review. Trump’s goal is to reverse Roe vs. Wade. The goal of the Louisiana law is also to reverse Roe vs. Wade.
It’s an odd arrangement because normally Democrats are not supportive of planks on the conservative agenda, but that’s not the case when it comes to abortion. In Louisiana, abortion is tolerated because it is the law of the land, but even Democrats agree that abortions, some as late as nine months, should be illegal.
Many other Southern states have passed laws similar to the one in Louisiana. Each one containing elements that they hope will get the attention of the Supreme Court. Each one has the same objective, which is overturning Roe vs. Wade.
Of course, Democrats and Republicans do differ about other pro-life issues. It appears that most Republicans support pro-life laws such as the new anti-abortion law, but they are soft on laws that will help children and adults after they are born. Jackson, Moore, and others consider themselves “whole-life” Democrats who support the life of a fetus in the womb but also support programs that assist life outside of the womb.
So, our female representatives from North Louisiana may be out of step with the thinking of the women in their districts on the exclusivity of the new abortion, but they are certainly on target when it comes to whole-life issues.
Rep. Jackson has rarely been out of step with her constituents, but as far as she is concerned this law was a moral call. When she had to make a choice, she remembered the scripture that says we “ought to obey God rather than man.”
Amen.
