2018 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 14 - Criminal Law
RS 14:87 - Abortion

NOTE: This provision of law was included in the Unconstitutional Statutes Biennial Report to the Legislature, dated March 14, 2016.

3. ABORTION

§87. Abortion

            A.(1) Abortion is the performance of any of the following acts, with the specific intent of terminating a pregnancy:

            (a) Administering or prescribing any drug, potion, medicine or any other substance to a female; or

            (b) Using any instrument or external force whatsoever on a female.

            (2) This Section shall not apply to the female who has an abortion.

            B. It shall not be unlawful for a physician to perform any of the acts described in Subsection A of this Section if performed under the following circumstances:

            (1) The physician terminates the pregnancy in order to preserve the life or health of the unborn child or to remove a stillborn child.

            (2) The physician terminates a pregnancy for the express purpose of saving the life, preventing the permanent impairment of a life sustaining organ or organs, or to prevent a substantial risk of death of the mother.

            (3) The physician terminates a pregnancy by performing a medical procedure necessary in reasonable medical judgment to prevent the death or substantial risk of death due to a physical condition, or to prevent the serious, permanent impairment of a life-sustaining organ of a pregnant woman.

            C. As used in this Section, the following words and phrases are defined as follows:

            (1) "Physician" means any person licensed to practice medicine in this state.

            (2) "Unborn child" means the unborn offspring of human beings from the moment of fertilization until birth.

            D.(1) As used in this Subsection:

            (a) "Abortion" means the specific intent to kill an unborn child consistent with the provisions and exceptions of R.S. 40:1061.

            (b) "Gestational age" means the age of an unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman, as determined by the use of standard medical practices and techniques.

            (2) It shall be unlawful for a physician to perform any of the acts described in Subsection A of this Section after fifteen weeks gestational age.

            E.(1) Whoever commits the crime of abortion shall be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than one nor more than ten years and shall be fined not less than ten thousand dollars nor more than one hundred thousand dollars.

            (2) This penalty shall not apply to the female who has an abortion.

            F. The provisions of Subsection D of this Section shall become effective upon final decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upholding the Act that originated as House Bill 1510 of the 2018 Regular Session of the Mississippi Legislature, which decision would thereby provide the authority for a state within the jurisdiction of that court of appeals to restrict abortion past fifteen weeks gestational age.

            G. The provisions of Subsection D of this Section are hereby repealed, in favor of the provisions of R.S. 40:1061, immediately upon and to the extent that the United States Supreme Court upholds the authority of the states to prohibit elective abortions on demand or by the adoption of an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America that would restore to the state of Louisiana the authority to prohibit elective abortions.

            Amended by Acts 1964, No. 167; Acts 1991, No. 26, §2; Acts 2006, No. 467, §2; Acts 2018, No. 468, §1, eff. May 23, 2018.