A law to allow women to recoup half of their out-of-pocket pregnancy-related medical expenses from the father goes into effect on August 1st. Abita Springs Republican Representative Larry Frieman who authored the legislation said the law gives mothers a way to recover those expenses, but you’d hope fathers would do so on their own…
“But of course, that’s usually not the case, so you’d have to get the courts involved, that’s the direction you’d have to take,” said Frieman.
The defense attorney said he didn’t know until a family practice lawyer told him there’s no way for women to legally recover half of those expenses. And on the heels of Roe v Wade being overturned, Frieman felt motivated to file the legislation.
“Just being brought to my attention that there was no mechanism in our law to do that, and so I felt it was necessary for us to put one in and that’s how HB 5 kind of originated,” said Frieman.
As the bill was making its way through the legislature, Frieman said he received widespread support from several women’s groups and fellow lawmakers.
“In fact, we got no opposition in any of the committees, and I believe they passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate,” said Frieman.
Paternity must be proven for mothers to recoup half of their pregnancy-related medical expenses.
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