ABSTRACT
One year after the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, the Louisiana state legislature passed a bill that band nearly all abortions. The bill's sponsors had pushed for the most restrictive bill possible, with an eye towards challenging and eventually over turning Roe v. Wade in the courts. One-third of Louisianans are Catholic, and they are concentrated in the southern part of the state. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the southern part of the territory was inhabited primarily by Catholic Creoles of French and Spanish descent. The Senate's passage of that second bill is a fascinating story of legislative maneuvering. With only two days left in the session after the failure to override the first veto, there was no time to craft a new anti-abortion bill and send it through committee to the floor.
