I get that there would be a bit of jubilation over the fact Louisiana’s Democrat governor John Bel Edwards snubbed his national party and signed SB 342, a more or less outright abortion ban which would kick in once the Supreme Court finally publishes the Dobbs decision and overturns Roe v. Wade. But some of the reactions have been over the top.

For example, Louisiana Right To Life’s press release took credit for activists applying pressure to get the bill signed…

Governor Edwards has signed SB 342 and SB 388 into law! We are one step closer to an abortion-free Louisiana!

THANK YOU for asking Gov. Edwards to sign these important bills into law.

Here’s what these bills do:

• SB 342 reaffirms Louisiana law that babies will be protected from abortion when Roe v. Wade is overturned. It also provides consistency and clarity on abortion across Louisiana’s criminal and civil code. It even directs the closure of abortion facilities when Roe v. Wade is overturned.
• SB 388 make the online sale of chemical abortion pills a crime. We must protect babies and women from these dangerous activities.

The Supreme Court will next release decisions on Thursday at 9 am. If they don’t release the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health on Thursday, then all eyes on are next week as it’s widely believed the Court will release the decision before the end of June.

Let’s continue to pray for the Supreme Court, for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, for moms, and for peace in the wake of the decision.

But Ben Clapper, LRTL’s head, said this…

“With the passage of SB 342 and 388, we are one step closer to an abortion-free future in Louisiana. We are grateful that Gov. Edwards has signed SB 342 into law to reaffirm Louisiana’s longstanding policy that we will protect unborn babies from abortion when Roe v. Wade is overturned. We applauded Senator Katrina Jackson for her dedication and leadership in authoring SB 342 and thank Representative Julie Emerson for carrying SB 342 on the House floor.”

“We also applaud Gov. Edwards for signing SB 388 into law to stop the dangerous unsupervised online sale of chemical abortion pills into Louisiana. Not only does SB 388 protect the lives of unborn babies, it also protects the health and safety of women who are purchasing chemical abortion pills without any medical exam or oversight. We commend Senator Sharon Hewitt for her commitment to life and the health of women by authoring SB 388 and Representative Laurie Schlegel for carrying the bill on the House floor.”

He concluded, “The passage of SB 342 and 388 complement the additional state funding allocated to provide alternatives to abortion for mothers in need. Louisiana has an abundance of public and private agencies standing by to help mothers and children before and after birth.”

Guys, enough.

After all, Edwards signed SB 342 essentially under protest. He dumped all over the bill when he signed it.

Edwards in announcing his decision to sign the bill into saw said he favored having exceptions for rape and incest included in the legislation.

In his letter, he wrote, “My position on abortion has been unwavering—I am pro-life and have never hidden from that fact. This does not belie my belief that there should be an exception to the prohibition on abortion for victims of rape and incest. However, vetoing Senate Bill 342 would not accomplish that end.”

Yeah. Do you know why?

Because SB 342 passed with a 72-25 vote in the House and a 29-4 vote in the Senate. Edwards signed the bill knowing he’d get overridden if he vetoed it.

This isn’t complicated. Edwards isn’t driving this train, he’s trying not to get run over by it.

This is not to say John Bel Edwards is lying when he calls himself pro-life. It is to say he’s not a leader on this issue, he’s a follower. And if it weren’t for the fact abortion in Louisiana is such a loser of an issue, John Bel Edwards would be doing everything he could to hedge on it.

To limit how far pro-life public policy would go. And to protect the abortion industry from efforts to run it out of the state.

You know this, because in every other respect John Bel Edwards does service to the national Democrat party wherever he can, and abortion is one of that party’s most sacred political sacraments. It just happens to be a major weakness to Edwards if he can’t credibly distance himself from the party.

Enough already. It’s fine to be happy about SB 342 becoming law, but giving Edwards part of this win is entirely inappropriate. He doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt after more than six years of  dishonesty and misrule.