WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — Though the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion is not the final word on whether federal abortion protections will be overturned, consequences of the leak continue to reverberate nationwide.
In Louisiana, state lawmakers advanced a bill this week that would criminalize abortion and allow women to be charged with murder.
Louisiana state lawmaker Danny McCormick, who sponsored the bill, told reporters, “The taking of a life is murder and it is illegal … Persons are deemed unworthy of legal protection for no other reason that they are not yet born.”
California Congresswoman Judy Chu said she wasn’t surprised by Louisiana’s bill and expects similar bills criminalizing abortion to be introduced in conservative states nationwide.
“Each of these states are going to try to outdo each other, in terms of being anti-abortion,” Chu said, who added that one in four women across the U.S. has had an abortion.
Chu said a majority of Americans support access to safe and legal abortions. While the leaked Supreme Court opinion is only a draft and not final, Democrats are already preparing for what to do after Roe v Wade is overturned.
Chu is pushing for Congress to pass her Women’s Health Protection Act to ensure abortion access nationwide. However, it’s unlikely to happen because Democrats don’t have enough support in the U.S. Senate.
“We have to make sure that everybody is engaged in terms of who they elect. Actually, on the local, state and federal level,” Chu said.
