GOP Lawmakers in Louisiana Reject Adding Rape & Incest Exceptions for Children to Abortion Ban. Again.

A child who delivered a baby while clutching a teddy bear; a survivor who was repeatedly raped by her grandfather as a child and still suffers physical repercussions; a daughter of a rape survivor who died after self-medicating her trauma. Survivors, doctors, and advocates traveled to Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Tuesday to lay bare their wounds and beg legislators to add a rape and incest exception for children under 17 to the state’s near-total abortion ban. Once again, their pleas were denied.

The Louisiana House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice rejected HB 164 4-7, down party lines.

It was a harrowing day, as the committee heard multiple bills attempting to clarify the abortion ban and support doctors and patients in the state. All of the bills were turned down. The last to be heard was the rape and incest bill, authored by New Orleans Rep. Delisha Boyd (D). Boyd has repeatedly attempted to add rape and incest exceptions to the abortion ban, and this year she narrowed the age in committee to minors under 17, in the hopes that would sway legislators. “I hope that we can take a look at the fact that this is to protect our most vulnerable children,” Boyd said on Tuesday. She later added, “Visualize a baby having a baby.”

Boyd has been vocal about the fact that she was the product of her mom being raped at 15 years old. Her mother self-medicated and died before the age of 30, a story she shared again on Tuesday. At another point during the hearing, when one survivor described taking a hot shower after her rape, committee member Rep. Joy Walters (D) shared that she did the same when she was sexually assaulted. 

Dr. Neelima Sukhavasi, a Baton Rouge OB-GYN, testified that “in the past year alone” she and her colleagues have delivered babies to multiple teenagers, many as young as 13 years old. “Some of these teenagers suffered from complications related to their pregnancies, such as preeclampsia and eclampsia—teenagers have an increased risk of developing seizures related to high blood pressure that can lead to death.”

Sukhavasi continued to detail complications she and her colleagues have seen, including placental abruption, tears, and lacerations which can lead to postpartum hemorrhage. She pointed out that both preeclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage are leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality in Louisiana.

“One of these teenagers delivered a baby while clutching a teddy bear,” Sukhavasi said. “And that’s an image, I feel like once you see that you can’t unsee.”

Audrey Wascome, who was repeatedly raped by her grandfather when she was a child, also testified at last year’s hearing where she told Jezebel she felt extremely disrespected. Yesterday, she brought up how she’s still dealing with the consequences of that assault, sharing that she has vaginal scars that still rip and break down just from walking.

“I can’t even fathom the idea of what it would have done to my body had it been forced to carry a pregnancy to term after being raped as a child,” Wascome said. “Members of this body, elected to represent me, voted against this bill last year and very clearly told me that those monsters matter more than I do. If you choose to vote no to this bill, the only people you’re protecting are traffickers, rapists and abusers.”

Rep. Alonzo Knox (D), who was very vocal during the hearing, thanked Wascome profusely for speaking. “We don’t really want to talk about the graphic side of it,” he said, bringing up the image of a grown man on top of a child. “It’s too ugly, it’s too vile. We don’t want to talk about the life impact as you just described. I thank you for being here and putting it in our face.”

Throughout the day Knox was reprimanded by Rep. Debbie Villio (R) for his impassioned conversation. At one point, when telling a survivor he empathizes with her putting her PTSD and trauma on display since he suffers from PTSD after serving in the military, Villio jumped in and said, “You need to take it down.” Villio had a similar exchange with Corhonda Corley, a disability advocate and mother of a child sexual assault survivor, during her testimony.

“Ninety percent of the people with developmental disabilities will experience some type of sexual assault, seven times [the rate of] people without disabilities,” Corley said. She also referenced a story about a Louisiana woman who had to share custody of her child with her rapist, who had sexually assaulted her at the age of 16. When Corley started talking about this story, Villio interrupted, asking if she “could take the volume down just a little.”

The anti-abortion advocates also testified about scripture and said it was not fair to punish potential future babies by giving the current living, breathing children freedom and bodily autonomy. (I’m paraphrasing). Rep. Lauren Ventrella (R) said the bill would mean teenagers could get an abortion by lying about being sexually assaulted. “How do we say, oh yes, we know bar none that this is what happened?” she asked. Boyd responded that there were several ways to identify, not to mention the fact that statutory rape is determined by age, but Ventrella doubled down that she was concerned about 17-year-olds who were not raped. Now is probably a good time to mention that the bill was for those under 17, which is the age of legal consent in Louisiana.

When Boyd was crying and talking about the trauma a child’s body has to endure during pregnancy, Rep. Dodie Horton (R) responded by saying that she loves Boyd and is grateful that she’s here, but she cannot support abortion.