Gov. Bobby Jindal signs 20-week abortion ban into law

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BATON ROUGE -- Doctors will be barred from performing abortions 20 weeks after conception under a bill signed into law Monday by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

AP Photo/Gerald HerbertGov. Bobby Jindal, right, has signed a bill by Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego to prohibit all abortions in the state 20 weeks after conception.

Senate Bill 766 by Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, prohibits all abortions after 20 weeks, about 22 weeks on the typical 40-week gestational calendar. The previous state law prohibited the procedure after the fetus was viable.

Alario's bill, which goes into effect Aug. 1, carries fines and imprisonment for any physician that performs an abortion after the cut-off. The bill does allow for abortions performed to protect the life of the pregnant woman.

The bill joins two other abortion measures already signed by Jindal this year. Those measures would increase the waiting period for an abortion from two hours to 24 hours, require that audio of the fetus' heartbeat be played for the woman and require the procedure be performed