The Louisiana state Senate voted to pass House Bill 1081 [text, PDF] on Tuesday, banning dilation and evacuation abortion procedures. The bill was approved by the state house in April and is waiting to be signed by Governor John Bel Edwards [official website] who has expressed his intentions to sign the bill. The procedure is commonly referred to as dismemberment abortion. The bill still allows these second trimester abortions to proceed if it is necessary to prevent a serious health risk to the mother. Opponents of the bill argue that the bill criminalizes the safest method for second trimester abortions and puts these mothers are risk when attempting alternative methods.

Abortion procedures and reproductive rights issues [JURIST backgrounder] are controversial topics throughout the US. Earlier this month Alabama banned [JURIST report] dilation and evacuation abortions. In April the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed suit [JURIST report] against the state of Indiana, challenging the constitutionality of a recently signed abortion law. In March Utah became the first state to require doctors to administer anesthesia [JURIST report] to women receiving an abortion after 20 weeks. Also in March West Virginia lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto to enact a new law [JURIST report] that prevents the dilation and evacuation abortion procedure, widely held to be the safest second-trimester abortion method. The same day, South Dakota’s governor signed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protections Act, which bans abortions after 20 weeks.