DID
YOU KNOW?
HB
305 by Rep. Frank
Hoffman would have abortion providers prohibited from distributing materials
or speak about abortion in public schools. He told the House Health and
Welfare Committee that this protected life and the self-esteem of girls. He
said this help prevent the selling of abortion. Witnesses gave examples of how
Planned Parenthood in particular has distributed material supporting abortion
in schools.
Opponents
testified that it was unnecessary but would reduce the amount of sex education
available where needed, deny free speech they claimed would be unconstitutional
and litigated, claimed it would overbroad in preventing other kinds of
information including that which would be helpful in reducing pregnancy and
disease, and alleged it would cost money to defend.
Hoffman
closed by saying sex education is not restricted by the bill, and another
supporting witness said that the opponents’ unconstitutionality arguments are
meritless because schools are not public forums. Without opposition, it was
moved favorably.
DID
YOU KNOW?
SB
62 by Sen. Conrad Appel would create a
common application for a Louisiana state university. He told the House Education Committee
that a general form would be created, and schools could add their own material.
It also could attract out-of-state students by linking it to a national form.
Rep.
Barry Ivey
asked whether it would apply to two-year schools, and Appel said they would, as
the general information could be shared. After amendments were adopted, it was
approved without dissent.
DID
YOU KNOW?
HB
1079 by Rep. Tim
Burns would require more detailed reporting of campaign expenditures. From
the Committee
on Senate and Governmental Affairs, Sen. Jonathan Perry asked whether the
definition would be too subjective; Burns said guidelines had been created by
the Board of Ethics that could be put on forms and put into fact sheets. If
there seemed to be ambiguity, an investigation could occur that would allow for
modification of reports rather than any prosecution. Burns said it was more
providing greater description.
Sen.
Greg Tarver asked whether it meant
one had to name everybody attending a paid function; Burns said just a description
of who they were he thought was adequate. Then he asked about giving away money
for a constituent to fund a funeral; Burns said a simple explanation should do.
As long as it was related to campaigning or holding of office, it was
permissible, there just needed to be adequate explanation.
Questions
mounted up, so Chairman Jody Amedee
asked Burns if he would defer for a week, given pressing pending business. He
agreed.
DID
YOU KNOW?
HB
1176 by Rep. Chris
Broadwater would disallow TANF funds from being used for certain purposes
and/or at certain location. He asked the Senate Education
Committee for some amendments to be approved that modified issues of
amusements and jewelry, which were approved. Vice Chairman Fred Mills wondered whether there had
been a fiscal note on the bill as had been with other efforts in the past, but
there was not as there would be disabling of ATMs, not reprogramming issues.
The
bill was approved without objection.
DID
YOU KNOW?
HB
1274 by Rep. Austin
Badon would allow for maximal life-sustaining efforts to be made to save
unborn children that reasonably would survive in the incident where a pregnant
woman cannot sustain life on her own. He said to the House Health and Welfare
Committee the bias to protect life was important. Opponents said the law would
make pregnant women second-class citizens and deny her choice, or her relatives,
or an official organization’s determination if she left some kind of directive
to let her die and therefore her unborn baby. They said too much was being put
on the rights of the unborn, but too little on the rights of the family and represented
“despicable, abominable, immoral, unethical, invasive, inappropriate, abhorrent”
state overreach.
Sen.
Ben Nevers asked whether the state
legally could let a child die, and was told it wasn’t a child that would die,
and that government should not interfere with human rights. Nevers said there
was another life at stake, and it would be wrong not to maintain life when
possible and would err on the side of life.
Badon
said living wills were useful, but they didn’t necessarily reflect current attitudes,
nor were families that could make these decisions always present. Instead, the
bill simply gives a voice to the unborn, allows for eventual natural death, and
trusts medical decision-making. Without objection, the bill passed.
DID
YOU KNOW?
HB
1262 by Rep. Barry
Ivey would require
provision information to women considering abortion about the procedure and
options to encourage diversion of victims from human trafficking. Providers
would have to distribute these and report incident such as coerced abortion, as
clarified by amendments which were adopted. Witnesses testified that women who experienced
abortion often suffered psychologically afterwards, and more information was
better for them in making that decision. They also said that they did not trust
the abortion industry to police itself, drawing upon past experience.
Opponents said the trafficking
portion was overblown in its benefits, and said the required pamphlets contained
information they largely could provide on their own already, and that the
industry could police itself, making the bill unnecessary. They also said some
women would be better off psychologically or financially if they had an
abortion, calling research that showed the opposite “bad science.”
Ivey reiterated there were no
restrictions to abortion in the bill, and noted the irony that clinics said
they provided information on the potential negative psychological effects of
abortion even as they called it bad science. The bill passed with objection.
QUOTE
OF THE DAY:
Not
at my mortuary.
Tarver, clarifying his example.
No comments:
Post a Comment