BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State senators have agreed to give Louisiana’s health department the ability to shutter an abortion clinic if the facility intentionally destroys or falsifies patient records.
The proposal was one of two bills winning Senate passage Tuesday that add new restrictions to abortion. The bills head to the House for debate. Both are sponsored by Sen. John Milkovich, a Keithville Democrat.
One bill, approved 34-3, would allow suspension or revocation of an abortion clinic’s license for deliberately trashing or faking records, or filling out a patient’s forms ahead of an appointment.
The second measure , backed 33-0, would create a new crime of coerced abortion, when someone forces a woman to have an abortion. The crime would carry a prison sentence up to five years.