Gender Based Abortion Ban Passed By Louisiana House

It sounds like an issue that would be more prevalent in a third world country, the termination of a birth based on the sex of an unborn child. Obviously it's not an issue that only happens in other lands, the Louisiana House felt this issue was enough of a priority that the state should have legislation on the books defining what is and what is not acceptable in Louisiana.

The Louisiana House by a vote of 81 for and 2 against passed a measure that would prohibit gender based abortions in the state. There have been no documented cases of such abortions in our state but Houma Representative Lenar Whitney cited an article in Forbes Magazine about the subject. In the article the author suggested that abortions based upon the sex of the unborn child was becoming more prevalent in Asian communities in the United States.

Whitney told the Louisiana Radio Network,

Many of these women were coerced into abortions and threatened by divorce and violence, if they did not bear sons.

While there was certainly overwhelming support for the issue in the House. There is some concern that the language or the way the legislation was written that could open the door for frivolous lawsuits. Walt Leger a Representative from New Orleans voted in support of the legislation but he still has concerns about the language in the bill.

You're saying the mother must be alerted to the sex of the child, that seems to open the door to (lawsuits)

The bill will now pass to the Senate for further debate and consideration.