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La. Judge Blocks Post-Roe Abortion Ban

June 27, 2022

A New Orleans judge on Monday temporarily blocked three Louisiana laws that would restrain or ban abortion, after the Supreme Court on Friday sent the power to set abortion policy back to the states by overturning Roe v. Wade. Judge Robin M. Giarrusso signed the order, which prohibits state officials from enforcing the laws until a hearing scheduled for July 8.

Among the blocked “trigger laws” — previously passed by the legislature and scheduled to take effect in the event that Roe v. Wade was overruled — was Section 40:1061, which would ban abortion unless the mother’s life was endangered and included other strong protections.

Now that the fight to control abortion policy has moved from Washington to the 50 states, abortion activists are trying to make their power felt. Jenny Ma, senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit, applauded the decision. “While the fight is far from over, we will do everything in our power to preserve abortion access in Louisiana and across the country,” she said.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry (R) also responded to the decision. “We would remind everyone that the laws that are now in place were enacted by the people through state constitutional amendments and the Louisiana legislature, which the citizens elect representatives,” he said. “We are fully prepared to defend these laws in our state courts, just as we have in our federal courts.”

In other states, including Ohio, judges responded to the Dobbs decision by dissolving injunctions against pro-life laws.

Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand.