Shreveport Republican Thomas Pressly was hours away from qualifying for reelection to the Louisiana House just over a year ago when when former state Sen. Barry Milligan shook up the northwestern Louisiana delegation in a surprise announcement that he wouldn’t seek reelection.
That left Pressly with only hours during the three-day qualifying period to make a quick decision – stay in the House as one of 105 members or seek election to the state Senate as one of 39.
“I had planned to stay in the House,” Pressly said in an interview with USA Today Network. “But I felt like this was an unexpected opportunity to expand my voice and advocacy for my region that I was compelled to pursue.
“We (Shreveport-Bossier) had just lost a Senate seat that diluted our voice, which was already an issue for us. I believed then and believe now that I have an obligation to fight for our priorities on the biggest platform possible.”
Thirteen months later after winning election to the Senate, Pressly’s profile skyrocketed, not just in northwestern Louisiana but on a state and national stage, where he was ultimately thrust into the 2024 presidential campaign between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump.
The During his first year in the state Senate Pressly continued to press for parochial priorities like increased funding for LSU-Shreveport, the LSU Health Sciences Center and the Jimmie Davis Bridge. “Those issues and many others illustrate the disparity we face in funding compared to South Louisiana,” he said.
But he also found himself in the center of statewide issues like opposing the proposed sale of Blue Cross, the proliferation of THC in hemp (“Basically legalized marijuana,” he said) and testifying against a new majority Black congressional district that stretches from Shreveport to Baton Rouge (“There are no commonalities in that map,” he said).
Still, nothing could match the firestorm created when Pressly’s Senate Bill 276 became law and Louisiana became the first state to classify the abortion pills misoprostol and mifepristone as controlled dangerous substances.
Pressly’s original bill had secured unanimous support in the Senate as a means to create “coerced abortion by means of fraud” as a crime after his sister Catherine Pressly Herring’s husband tried to secretly abort their baby by spiking her drinks with the abortion-inducing pills.
But when the bill moved to the House, Pressly amended the legislation at the urging of Louisiana Right to Life to change the classification of the abortion pills.
Under the new law that goes into effect Oct. 1, misoprostol and mifepristone can still be used to treat conditions other than abortion, which is already illegal in Louisiana, but as controlled dangerous substances they would have to be prescribed.
Harris, who supports abortion rights, attacked the law both before she entered the presidential race and then during the campaign as a candidate, saying similar legislation would sweep the country under Trump.
The Harris campaign sent an email to supporters saying the Louisiana law creates “new barriers to access for patients in dire need,” echoing some concerns that the drugs won’t be quickly accessible if needed to treat emergency non-abortion conditions like postpartum hemorrhaging.
“Let’s be clear: Donald Trump is the reason Louisiana women who are suffering from miscarriages or bleeding out after birth can no longer receive the critical care they would have received before Trump overturned Roe,” the email said. “Because of Trump, doctors are scrambling to find solutions to save their patients and are left at the whims of politicians who think they know better. Trump is proud of what he’s done. He brags about it. And if he wins, he will threaten to bring the crisis he created for Louisiana women to all 50 states.”
Trump didn’t make abortion illegal himself as president, but Harris said his appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court tipped the scales that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to make their own decisions about abortion.
Abortion is already illegal in Louisiana, as are the use of the pills to induce an abortion.
Pressly’s new law went viral on social media and he even appeared on “The Today Show” to discuss it.
“I brought the legislation because my sister was a victim of an awful domestic violence attack,” he said. “I didn’t want women to be attacked by having these drugs in the hands of bad actors. I wanted the law to be strict enough for people to be held accountable, to make sure women in Louisiana were protected.”
Pressly said he didn’t initially expect such a firestorm over his law, though in hindsight he understands as abortion has become a national political flashpoint.
But Pressly said he stands by his legislation and its intent, dismissing concerns about limited emergency access to the drugs.
“Controlled substances are prescribed and taken daily by Louisiana patients for legitimate healthcare purposes,” Pressly said. “This law continues to allow the drugs to be prescribed and administered by healthcare professionals for appropriate treatments while adding a layer of protection to keep them out of the hands of someone who would do harm.”
More: Will Supreme Court abortion pill decision change access to mifepristone in Louisiana?
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: How abortion law thrust Shreveport senator into presidential campaign
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Publish date : 2024-09-23 02:35:00
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