Louisiana has spent more than $1 million to defend its abortion restrictions against a series of lawsuits since 2014, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through open-records requests.
And it’s set to spend even more.
State contracts with private law firms show the state repeatedly adding thousands of dollars to the agreements, extending them as the cases drag on while Louisiana fights to implement abortion policies that have been halted by the courts.
The ballooning costs also come as the state, amid a looming budget shortfall that has colleges and public safety programs possibly on the chopping block, faces a $4.7 million legal bill from lawyers who won a federal court decision in favor of a lawsuit brought by a clinic that performs abortions. The state has appealed the decision.
Louisiana, like many of its Deep South neighbors, doesn’t hesitate to act on its opposition to abortion.
The state has an unenforceable law that allows for someone who “commits the crime of abortion ” to be sentenced to a decade of hard labor in prison. Its anti-abortion governor, a Democrat, signed a pre-emptive ban on abortions after 15 weeks that will go into effect if a federal court upholds a similar law in Mississippi. The Republican-controlled, deeply religious legislature introduces a spate of anti-abortion bills every year.
A spokesman for Gov. John Bel Edwards says the governor thinks the cases are worth fighting. The state’s top prosecutor says he’ll keep defending Louisiana’s laws through a combination of in-house lawyers and outside counsel.
