Session on Abortion Bill Veto Rejected
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s efforts to ban abortions this year were apparently dealt a death blow Thursday when the Legislature voted against a special session to override Gov. Buddy Roemer’s veto of a strict anti-abortion bill.
Speaker Jimmy Dimos said at least 56 of the 105 members of the House of Representatives voted against a veto session that would have begun Aug. 18.
Senate President Sammy Nunez said at least 21 members of the 39-member Senate voted against the session.
Louisiana law requires the Legislature to decide whether it wants to call itself back into veto session when a governor vetoes legislation. Lawmakers had until Aug. 13 to vote on it, but Thursday’s action was definitive.
Roemer vetoed the anti-abortion bill July 27 on grounds that it did not have broad enough exceptions for rape victims. It was his second veto of an anti-abortion bill during the legislative session.
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