White House calls Louisiana’s plan to ban most abortions an attack on ‘fundamental freedoms’

The White House on Monday slammed the Louisiana legislature for passing a bill that would ban abortions throughout the state, including in cases of rape or incest.

“The Louisiana legislature has taken the latest step in a growing attack against the fundamental freedoms of Americans,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement. “Louisiana’s extreme bill will criminalize abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest and punish reproductive health care professionals with up to 10 years in prison.”

“An overwhelming majority of the American people agree and reject these kinds of radical measures,” she said.

The bill won final approval from the Louisiana Senate on Sunday with little debate. It now heads to the desk of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, who is expected to sign the measure.

Under the bill, if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, the state will shutter its three abortion clinics and ban the procedure in nearly all pregnancies after the moment of “fertilization and implantation.” It will also impose criminal penalties on doctors who perform the procedure.

Doctors who perform abortion procedures could face up to 15 years in state prison and fines totaling $200,000.

The bill does include language that explicitly exempts patients from being prosecuted, but the critics charge the bill could expand the definition of personhood. That could lead to an abortion patient being charged under the state’s homicide statute, critics say.