The Louisiana legislature passed a bill Wednesday that will extend the required waiting period for an abortion to 72 hours, one of the strictest in the nation. Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has said he’ll sign the bill into law.
Louisiana passed the new legislation in the midst of a session notably full of bad ideas, including a law that would add police as a protected class to the state’s hate crime statute. The abortion waiting period in Louisiana previously was 24 hours.
Extremely lengthy waiting periods for abortions are becoming an unwelcome mini-trend: Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah now all have the same waiting time.
Governor John Bel Edwards. Photo via AP
