Louisiana Legislature Passes 72 Hour Waiting Period For Abortions, Tripling the Current Wait Time

By Anna Merlan  |  May 12, 2016 | 2:00pm
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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

 
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