The Rundown: Election Day discussions, a lawsuit challenging Louisiana's abortion restrictions and more news
Today in The Rundown: A national reproductive rights group has filed a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s restrictions on abortion during the coronavirus outbreak; Louisiana’s presidential primary is rescheduled (again!) and the latest covid-19 numbers in Louisiana.
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The Countdown…
Days until Louisiana Legislature is scheduled to return to session: TBD
Days until the Governor’s stay-at-home order is lifted: 14
Days until the Louisiana legislative session must end: 46
Days until the newly-scheduled Louisiana presidential primary: 87
Days until the presidential/senatorial/congressional election: 201
Days until the Louisiana runoff election (as needed): 233
Coronavirus in Louisiana
The Numbers…
Cases: 21,518
In Hospitals: 1,977 (On ventilation: 436)
Deaths: 1,013
Tests administered (state and privately reported): 118,422
Parishes with reported cases: 64
**Numbers reported as of noon April 14. For updated numbers see: The Louisiana Department of Health.
The News…
By the numbers: Louisiana marked a grim milestone on Tuesday, reporting more than 1,000 people have died with coronavirus in the state.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said he has heard reports of people violating his stay-at-home order to celebrate the Easter weekend. While it’s too early for any potential cases from that to be recorded, Edwards said he’s worried the state could see a spike.
“All it takes to have a spike in cases and go back the other direction is for too many people to violate the order — too much social contact,” he said.
Louisiana continues to see relatively steady rates and declines in the number of people hospitalized with covid-19 and the number of people requiring ventilators.
Election day: Gov. John Bel Edwards has pushed back the presidential primary election in Louisiana for a second time. If everything stays as is, with no delays elsewhere, Louisiana will be the last state to vote with its new July 11 date.
Two legislative panels responsible for overseeing elections — the Louisiana Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House and Governmental Affairs Committee — are scheduled to meet today to discuss the state’s emergency elections plans. (Here’s an overview of the plan.)
The Senate panel meets at 10 a.m. in Senate meeting rooms A-B, and the House committee meets in the chamber at 11 a.m. Both will be streamed online.
Abortion lawsuit: The Center for Reproductive Rights is challenging how Louisiana’s handling abortion services during the coronavirus outbreak. Gov. John Bel Edwards’ emergency order bans any medical procedures deemed non-emergency. Attorney General Jeff Landry has applied that to abortion procedures in the state (Edwards, a Catholic who has supported restrictions on abortion, has declined to specifically say whether he thinks that the procedure should be put on hold).
Louisiana currently bans abortion after 20 weeks and has several requirements in place, including mandatory waiting periods, before a pregnancy can be terminated.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is challenged similar covid-19 related restrictions in Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, already is currently embroiled in a challenge of a Louisiana state law that would require abortion providers have admitting privileges at a local hospital in a court case heard before the Supreme Court earlier this year.
“Louisiana has been trying for decades to end abortion,” Nancy Northup, President & CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement on the lawsuit, which is being brought on behalf of June Medical Services, a Shreveport-based clinic. “We are already fighting a separate Louisiana law at the Supreme Court that would shut down nearly every clinic in the state. If the state’s latest actions are not blocked, that will become a reality before the Supreme Court even rules."
Landry, a Republican who has been at the forefront of defending other abortion restrictions in the state, vowed that he would continue to defend the latest restriction as a move to protect public health during the emergency.
“Abortion clinics ... are asserting the rules that apply to other facilities do not apply to them,” he said. “While the rest of Louisiana has come together to fight covid-19, it is disappointing that June Medical is once again claiming they are exceptional and entitled to a blanket exemption.”
Read a copy of the lawsuit here.
Governor’s schedule…
Gov. John Bel Edwards hosts his monthly call-in radio show at 2 p.m. today. Call in number is 1-877-217-5757.
Edwards’ holds his regular coronavirus briefing at 4 p.m. at the GOHSEP headquarters in Baton Rouge.
Tweet beat…
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