By a 76-13 vote yesterday, the Louisiana House of Representatives passed HB 1247, authored by Frank Hoffman (R-West Monroe). The bill would make it illegal for private insurance plans to cover elective abortions, which would throw an additional obstacle in the way of implementing the Obamacare health bill which passed through Congress last month.

The bill, which is part of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s legislative package, has exceptions in the cases of miscarriages or life-threatening pregnancies.

State Rep. Juan LaFonta (D-New Orleans), a candidate for Congress in Louisiana’s 2nd District, offered a number of amendments to the bill which Hoffman said would gut it. LaFonta tried to amend the bill to allow coverage to abort “non-viable” fetuses, and was voted down. He then offered an amendment to allow coverage for abortions in the cases of rape or incest, and lost that fight.

In the end, opposition to the bill came only from the black caucus from the House – an indication that caucus and its constituency seems to contain the vast majority of the left-wing thinking in Louisiana politics today.