A bill to enshrine the right to contraception in state law has stalled in the Legislature amid pushback from powerful conservative lobbying groups that have been at the forefront of Louisiana’s anti-abortion movement.
State Rep. Delisha Boyd on January 13, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
House Bill 395 by state Rep. Delisha Boyd, D-New Orleans, would bar the state from enacting laws or regulations that restrict “the sale or use of contraceptives or emergency contraceptives.”
No such laws are currently on the books; past attempts to create them have been stymied by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Boyd said her bill applies only to government intervention, and that she amended the bill to suit Louisiana Right to Life, a leading anti-abortion group that has said that HB 395 could interfere with parents’ rights to limit children’s contraceptive access, or doctors’ rights to refuse to provide contraception.
But the House Health and Welfare Committee shelved the bill March 27, after word got out that Right to Life had concerns about it. Boyd said those concerns – which she said she was unaware of before the meeting – derailed the bill.
State Rep. Rick Edmonds, left, R-Baton Rouge, and Benjamin Clapper, right, executive director of Louisiana Right to Life, hold out their hands as they and others pray over Liz Murrill, center, Louisiana Solicitor General for the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, during the program held as part of The Louisiana Life March South, one of the state's largest pro-life demonstrations, in Baton Rouge Saturday, Jan. 25, 2020.
“I absolutely knew I had — past tense — the votes,” Boyd said in an interview. “It is beyond me what happened with Ben (Clapper)… (Initially) he was fine with it, he wasn’t opposed (to) or (in favor of) it. They only asked that we make an amendment.”
The health committee’s chairperson, Rep. Dustin Miller, D-Opelousas, also said Ben Clapper, the head of Louisiana Right to Life, initially didn’t oppose the bill. But Clapper said Boyd misrepresented his stance on the bill to her colleagues.
“During the first committee hearing, there was accidental miscommunication about our position,” Clapper said in a statement, adding that he “was not behind the scenes working to stall the bill.”
Other right-wing groups, including the Louisiana Baptist Convention and Louisiana Family Forum, also opposed HB 395 at that hearing.
Boyd’s push comes two years after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade stoked fears that the court could also end up dismantling precedents protecting contraception use. Since then, some blue states have passed laws to protect contraception access.
Mary-Patricia Wray, a lobbyist who supports HB 395, told the House health panel previous legislative proposals have threatened the right to contraception, and that the bill would clear up any confusion.
Such a bill was filed – and killed – two years ago by Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City. That plan drew the ire of Republicans and Democrats.
Conservative groups said there is no threat to contraception in Louisiana. Clapper said that Boyd’s bill was “unnecessary since contraception is legal, available, and Louisiana abortion law clearly exempts contraception.”
In the past, Clapper’s group has publicly supported access to levonorgestrel, commonly called the morning-after pill, which works by preventing ovulation.
Though Clapper said he does not support or oppose HB 395, during a second hearing on April 9, Boyd again deferred the bill due to ongoing negotiations with him, she said.
Boyd said after the meeting that those talks have been “in vain,” and that she plans to press ahead without Clapper’s support.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee rescheduled a hearing on House Bill 833, which aims to protect access to in-vitro fertilization. That bill’s lead author, Rep. Paula Davis, R-Baton Rouge, said she is working to iron out concerns from Right to Life, and that the hearing will take place next week.