UPDATED: Trigger law, Supreme Court ruling make abortion illegal in La.

Each year, members of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Patterson gather in the afternoon after a Sunday Mass to become a Life Chain.

They line the north side of westbound U.S. 90 in front of Cardinal Lumber, waving signs at passing cars to express their opposition to abortion.

And, although the U.S. Supreme Court gave pro-life forces their greatest victory Friday, church members will be a Life Chain again this October.

“There’s a lot more to be done,” said the Rev. Herbert Bennerfield III, St. Joseph’s pastor.

“As long as there are people out there who don’t believe in the sanctity of life, there’s a lot to do.”

That work includes caring for mothers and children, he said.

“We need to help mothers with troubled pregnancies,” Benner-field said. “We need to help their babies.”

Even so, Friday’s Su-preme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade made it “a good day for life,” Benner-field said.

The Supreme Court ruling, in a challenge to a Mississippi law ban-ning abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, broke the Roe precedent in force since 1973. Roe prevented states from banning abortion outright.

Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion in the Mississip-pi case said Roe was wrongly decided.

The ruling ignited a series of protests around the country by people who say Roe left the abortion decision to individual women, and who believes the Su-preme Court has taken away women’s right to control their own bodies.

The ruling came only days after Gov. John Bel Edwards signed a bill toughening Louisiana’s abortion “trigger law,” which conditioned a Louisiana abortion ban on a Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe.

The bill signed by Ed-wards exempts women who undergo abortions from prosecution, but it would send health care workers who perform abortions to prison for up to 10 years.

The law includes no exemptions for rape and incest.

Edwards signed the bill June 21. It was proposed by Sen. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe. The original law outlawing abortion in the event the Supreme Court strikes down Roe was passed in 2006.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy praised the court’s decision Friday.

“Being pro-life means being pro-mothers, pro-babies, and pro-healthy futures — a philosophy I carry with me in the Senate,” said Cassidy, R-La., in a press release.

“This is a deeply emotional issue for many Americans, no matter which side one stands, but it is now up to individual states to enact their own policies.”
This week, Cassidy introduced the Stop Supreme Court Leakers Act, legislation that criminalizes individuals who leak confidential information from the Supreme Court of the United States.

The likelihood of a decision striking down Roe was leaked to the press a month ago.

The Stop Supreme Court Leakers Act re-quires a $10,000 fine and imposes a prison sentence of up to 10 years for those who leak confidential information from the Supreme Court.

The law would also allow seizure of funds derived from media accounts derived from such leaks.

A statement from the Louisiana Democratic Party said the decision “will undoubtedly disrupt the lives of women and families across Louisiana. It will trigger laws that resemble Louisiana HB 813, which attempted to criminalize contraception and in-vitro fertilization, to go into effect all over the country. The Republicans pushing these laws do so under a pro-life banner, but do not put forth any policies that support the viability of human life.

“We are in uncharted waters, and there are many consequences of this decision that will become apparent later.”

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette and St. Mary’s representative in the House, called the Supreme Court ruling “a major victory for life. The sovereign states will now have greater authority to implement strong pro-life protections. The Supreme Court’s majority justices showed courage and resolve in standing by the leaked draft opinion. The radical left-wing mob did not and will not win. We will protect innocent life.”