Governor John Bel Edwards says he’s not concerned about losing votes over his decision to sign a series of abortion restrictions during the legislative session. Edwards says his support for the fetal heartbeat abortion ban that would functionally ban abortion six weeks after pregnancy should not have come as a surprise, given his past support for pro-life policy.
“At the end of the day it was not a political consideration. It was me being true to myself and being true to what I told the people of Louisiana.”
Edwards received harsh criticism from national level Democrats after the signatures and is now one of the party’s highest positioned pro-life members.
There’s been rumblings that a second, pro-choice Democrat could enter the race for Governor to capitalize on discontent among progressive voters. Edwards says he’s confident Louisiana Democrats still have his back.
“I don’t have any concerns about that. Obviously there were some people who were disappointed, but on the other hand there were a lot of people who were disappointed as well.”
The national Democratic party platform is definitively pro-choice, but Louisiana Democratic Party Executive Director Stephen Handwerk says the state party is still rallying behind Edwards, because he shares their values in other areas.
“Often times many of our members, including our chairwoman and myself, have a differing opinion. That being said, we don’t for a moment shy away from our enthusiastic support for our Governor in his re-election bid.”
