Louisiana Republican reveals his 40-year-old daughters still 'get in his lap' during debate on abortion bill

On Wednesday, The New Orleans Advocatereported that a Louisiana GOP state representative made a bizarre comment about his daughters during a debate about a new abortion law.

The law in question would force abortion providers to allow cell phone use inside clinics — a measure that critics worry could be exploited by anti-abortion groups to spam the phones of pregnant patients in waiting rooms.

'It wasn’t lost on the Health and Welfare committee that only two of its 18 members are women, Rep. Laurie Schlegel, a Metairie Republican, and Rep. Pat Moore, a Monroe Democrat. Only Schlegel was present for the vote, and she and the other members of the committee joked about her being the 'resident woman,'" said the report. "Rep. Larry Bagley, a Stonewall Republican, said, 'As a predominately male group, it's hard for us to understand what a woman goes through for an abortion.' Bagley preceded to imagine a hypothetical in which his daughters would want to call him if they ever were to get an abortion."

"They're in their 40s, and they'll get in my lap now if they’re upset," said Bagley.

The bill is likely to pass the House, but this could be moot should the Supreme Court go through with a draft opinion that appears set to overturn Roe v. Wade, giving Louisiana a green light to prohibit abortion entirely in the state.

A separate bill being advanced in the Louisiana legislature in anticipation of that decision would declare life as beginning at fertilization and open the door to charging abortion providers at any stage with murder. This law would effectively also criminalize in vitro fertilization and some forms of birth control, and directs the impeachment of any state judge who blocks the law from taking effect.