Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a rare pro-life Democrat, signed a bill into law Thursday protecting unborn babies from abortion after they have a detectable heartbeat, typically by six to eight weeks of gestation. Edwards, who is running for reelection in the fall, did not hold a public signing but made the announcement through his office. On Wednesday, he said he was elected on a pro-life platform in 2015 and, “I have been true to my word and my beliefs on this issue.”

Louisiana lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday to protect babies from abortion after they have a detectable heartbeat, typically at six to eight weeks of gestation. Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said he will sign it into law. The bill passed in the House 79-23 after previously clearing the Senate with a 31-5 vote.

Several of my Facebook “friends” are flaming liberals whom I seldom engage. Part of the reason is that I don’t want them to unfriend me, but a bigger reason is that I can’t begin to unpack some of their bizarro-world statements. One of these acquaintances—I’ll call her X—posted a brief meme last month: I love abortion! Clear and forceful as a punch to the stomach, but I felt no need to respond because so many already had. A man (M) who sympathized with X’s cause criticized her method: “That’s not the best framing for the issue.”  

The Illinois House of Representatives and its Democratic majority on Tuesday passed a bill that would strip all protections from unborn children, allowing for abortions up to the moment of birth. The so-called “Reproductive Health Act” also allows partial-birth abortions and removes protection for pro-life doctors and insurers who object to the practice. “A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this state,” according to the bill, which passed in a 64-50 vote after an emotional floor debate.

In a last-minute intervention, a French appeals court ruled that 42-year old Vincent Lambert’s doctors must resume giving him food and water, to the dismay of Lambert’s wife but to the relief of his devout Catholic parents and pro-life advocates.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an Indiana law requiring abortion providers to treat aborted babies’ bodies in the same way as other human remains. The court in the 7-2 ruling said Indiana can require providers to either bury or cremate the bodies, reversing a federal appeals court ruling. In the majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Indiana provision promotes “a state’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.” Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.

A federal judge issued an order Friday temporarily blocking a Mississippi law that would protect unborn babies from abortion once they have a detectable heartbeat, usually at about six weeks of gestation. Opponents of the measure argued in court this week that the law would effectively stop abortion in Mississippi because many women don’t know they are pregnant until after they have passed the six-week threshold.