Democratic Louisiana governor signs six week abortion into law
Lily Puckett
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Sugar Daddy website founder to pay for abortions of women who need to travel out of restrictive states
The founder of a sugar daddy website is offering to pay for out-of-state abortions for women seeking the procedure in states that have passed restrictions.This comes as increasing numbers of states across America introduce bills that attempt to ban women from having abortions – with legislation to restrict abortion rights having been introduced in 16 states this year.Brandon Wade, the founder and chief executive of popular sugar daddy website SeekingArrangement, is offering to cover the cost of both abortions and the travel expenses for women needing abortions in states that have introduced restrictions on the procedure.Mr Wade announced him and his girlfriend Zoe Glaze are launching a charity called Fight Against Poverty so that “when any state makes the decision to deny women the right to make choices about her body, we can help.”“We will provide women and families who cannot afford to provide for themselves, travel out of their home state to access proper health care and to exercise their right to a choice,” he said in a video released on Tuesday.He added: “If lawmakers will not step in and help these desperate women, then I will."Mr Wade explained that his girlfriend grew up in Alabama \- a state where a new law mandating a near total ban on abortion was signed into law by the governor last month. Under the law, doctors would face 10 years in prison for attempting to terminate a pregnancy and 99 years for carrying out the procedure. The abortion ban, which has been branded a “death sentence for women”, would even criminalise performing abortions in cases of rape and incest. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said the new law might be “unenforceable” due to Roe v Wade – the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalised abortion nationwide in 1973 – but said the new law was passed with the aim of challenging that decision.“My girlfriend, Zoe, and her sister Camille, both from Gadsden, Alabama, wept that day. As did millions of other women worldwide,” Mr Wade said.Mr Wade’s interest in setting up a charity started when he began to question why women from states with abortion bans could not just travel elsewhere. He said he rapidly discovered the answer “may have more to do with money than legislation.” Alabama’s abortion law is “designed to hurt the weakest and the poorest amongst us”, he added. Around 17 per cent of Alabama residents currently live below the poverty line. Mr Wade also drew attention to the fact Alabama does not require comprehensive sex education in schools and does not provide funding to family planning centres such as Planned Parenthood.Mr Wade said he plans to donate between $500,000 and $1m to the charity initially and will take part in its fundraising. He said the charity ties in with SeekingArrangement’s goal of letting people make their own choices and improve their lives. SeekingArrangement connects “sugar babies” to “sugar daddies or mommas” to find “mutually beneficial relationships,” according to its site, and has 10 million members.The CEO’s announcement comes as anti-abortion campaigners wage war on abortion rights in the hope that Roe v Wade will be overturned or radically undermined with new conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh - both Trump appointees - sitting on the court.The Supreme Court has previously ruled that states cannot ban abortion before a foetus is viable – about 23 to 25 weeks.Georgia governor Brian Kemp signed the controversial “heartbeat” abortion bill into law last month – effectively banning the procedure and giving the southern state one of the most restrictive laws in the US.The legislation bans abortion once cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo. This can be as early as six weeks – at which point most women do not yet know they are pregnant. The bill imposes jail sentences for women found guilty of aborting or attempting to abort their pregnancies, with the potential for life imprisonment and the death penalty. It is not scheduled to come into effect until 1 January and is expected to face challenges in the courts – and potentially be postponed. More than a dozen other states have passed or are considering versions of Georgia’s law. Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi and Ohio have also approved bans on abortion once a foetal heartbeat is detected. Opponents of abortion across America have become increasingly emboldened in their efforts to roll back women’s reproductive rights since Donald Trump entered the White House in January 2017.
Governor John Bel Edwards has signed Louisiana’s abortion ban into law, making the southern state the fifth to enact a law prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically as early as six weeks, which is before most women know they’re pregnant.
Alabama’s law, which bans abortions from the moment of conception, surpasses these states in severity. But like that law, Louisiana’s new ban does not contain any exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest.
Governor Edwards is the first Democrat to back one of the many attempts to overturn Roe v Wade with deliberately unconstitutional language currently sweeping the US.
Like all the bans, it will not take effect immediately, and abortion remains legal and accessible in Louisiana for now. However, restrictive laws already in place, which work around the Supreme Court decision to make abortion difficult to access, leave the state in an already precarious position.
Mr Edwards has been open about his stance against abortion rights throughout his career, and was clear that he would sign the bill when it reached him.
Though differing on abortion rights from most of his party, he was still supported by the Democratic National Committee. In a statement celebrating his election in November 2015, then-DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote: “John Bel Edwards’ commitment to expanding quality health care to hundreds of thousands of Louisianans … is a message that Democrats all across the country can run on and win with in 2016.”
The bill was also sponsored by a Democrat, state senator John Milkovich. Nola.com reports that Louisiana legislators overwhelmingly supported the ban, with a 79-23 House vote and 31-5 Senate vote.
A tweet from Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which covers Louisiana, called Thursday “a dark day in Louisiana’s history”.
“But as our supporters showed today,” the tweet said, “we will never stop fighting these attacks on our reproductive rights and freedoms. Louisianans deserve better.”
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