Louisiana power project stuck in abortion debate gets funded

By SARA CLINE
Associated Press

BATON ROUGE (AP) — The Louisiana Bond Commission has approved a $39 million future line of credit for a critical New Orleans area power plant project that had become an unlikely pawn in the ongoing political tug-of-war over enforcing Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban. The commission previously withheld approval, twice, amid Democratic city leaders’ opposition to enforcing the abortion ban. The project is critical to power drainage pumps that remove rainwater in a city that faces chronic flood problems. Battles between Democratic city leaders and Republicans in reliably red states have been happening across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court decided to end constitutional protections for abortion in June.