Pro-Life? Practice what you preach!

Well the Pro-Lifers were finally successful in their 49 year campaign to overturn a woman’s right to abortion in the U.S.   And in the United States, thirteen states, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, enacted trigger laws that will immediately automatically ban abortion.  However, it’s interesting to note that while these states were interested in protecting the life of the unborn, they apparently have no problem with failure to provide sufficient care during pre-birth and after the birth of the child, for all these states rank the lowest in prenatal care, and child rearing assistance for the unwed.

Notable, with little surprise, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama are in the top three with the highest percentage of babies born with low birth weights rates due to inadequate prenatal care, which can lead to death. This is clearly supported in 2020 data which indicated that Mississippi was first and Louisiana was second in infant mortality rates.  Also noteworthy is that Texas, and Mississippi have the highest percentage of women receiving no prenatal care during their first trimester.

In addition, all these states, including Louisiana, have some of the highest rates of childhood poverty, premature birth rates, and limited access to health insurance for child bearing age low income mothers.

However, the trigger laws for Louisiana are even more devastating since no exceptions are made for rape or incest. Can you imagine the mental impact that will have on a woman forced to raise a child conceived in that manner?  Maybe our esteemed Republican legislators just assume the philosophy of the Republican candidate running for Virginia's Seventh Congressional District who recently stated that “you can’t get pregnant from rape.”

It is truly sad that the Pro-Life movement legislators’ agenda didn’t actually energetically address during its 49 year quest what its name implied.  They continually resisted attempts to pass legislative funding to provide a support system for better quality care for mothers during pre-birth and for the child after its birth.  This is particularly evident in the states with the most stringent abortion restriction laws.

Hopefully, the Pro-Life movement won’t just fold up shop and ride off into the sunset now that’s its myopic focus has been accomplished.

But I seriously doubt much will change in the Republican controlled abortion restriction states regarding the quality of prenatal care and child rearing assistance as a result of this historic Supreme Court decision.  I suspect it will just worsen.

Let's Start Docking the Pay of Our Legislators

In today’s world, if you don’t show up for your job, for reasons other than illness or a personal emergency, your pay is docked.  And, if you fail to do your job, you’re fired. However, apparently that reality scenario seems non-existent for our esteemed state legislators.

Last week, a bill that could have had a major impact on finally moving Louisiana out of the bottom two positions on most national educational performance polls, ground to a halt in the Louisiana Senate.  The bill, which already had received the stamp of approval from House representatives, would have held back third graders who could not pass a reading assessment after three tries.  Such students would undergo extensive remedial work during the school day, including at least 90 minutes per day instruction emphasizing phonics, fluency, comprehension and other reading strategies.

This was obviously an extremely important bill for the Louisiana senate to consider, but it failed by just 2 votes to advance further.  However, what was even more upsetting than its failure to pass was the fact that 6 senators didn’t even vote on the bill. These included senators, Cathey, Cloud, Fields, Foil, Harris and Tarver. 

I don’t know who was actually physically present or absent in the senate building when the voting occurred, but the bottom line was they all failed to do their job.  They were not doing what Louisiana voters hired them to do; vote.

This behavior happens all too frequently in both legislative branches in the hallowed halls of Baton Rouge, and it needs to stop.  

Obviously, we can’t fire them for this delinquent behavioral, but I suggest we do implement a procedure that might alter their behavior.  Therefore, I challenge our legislators to implement the same procedure that applies to the everyday working residents in our state, docking their pay.  I think a good starting figure should be $100.00 per each non-voting incident.  If you’re physically absent from the legislative building due to illness and produce a doctor’s excuse, or absent due to a documented emergency, I’ll let you slide.

Our legislators are paid to basically do two things, propose legislation, and vote on it.  And yes, it takes a spine to go on record for all to see regarding one’s stance on proposed legislation. Obviously some seem to be missing this vital part of their body, and choose instead to ‘not show up for work.’ 

We need to stop treating our legislators as prima-donnas, and hold them accountable to the same standards that exist in the real world for not doing one’s job, dock their pay.