Topline
Abortion rights advocates sued officials in Indiana on Tuesday over the state’s near-total abortion ban—the first of its kind enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade—the latest challenge to the numerous state efforts to outlaw the procedure.
Abortion-rights protesters march around the Indiana State house on July 25 in Indianapolis, Indiana. … [+]
Key Facts
The American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers filed a lawsuit in state court against the state medical licensing board and county prosecutors over Indiana’s abortion law, known as SB 1, which is set to take effect on September 15.
SB 1 will make performing abortions a felony except in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormalities or medical emergencies, until up to 12 weeks of pregnancy for rape and incest and until 20 to 22 weeks for abnormalities or emergencies.
The abortion providers argue these exceptions are “unworkable” and overly vague, and the “uncertainty around the law … prevents doctors from knowing if performing certain abortions will expose them to prosecution.”
SB 1 also requires abortions to be performed at hospitals, which providers argue “will make abortion nearly impossible to access for even those patients who meet the ban’s narrow exceptions.”
Abortion providers allege the law violates the Indiana Constitution’s rights to due process and privacy and equal rights protections.
Crucial Quote
“With almost no available abortion care in Indiana, Hoosiers will suffer irreparable harm to their autonomy, their well-being, and their dignity, in violation of their rights under the Indiana Constitution,” the lawsuit states.
Key Background
Indiana became the first state to enact new abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed the bill into law on August 5. The ban and its narrow exceptions have divided Republicans in the state—as some felt the law did not go far enough—and came even as polling shows total abortion bans are broadly unpopular nationwide, including in the states where they’ve been enacted. Abortion is still legal in Indiana until SB 1 takes effect, and it’s served as an important access point for people seeking abortions from neighboring states like Ohio and Kentucky that already ban abortion, including a 10-year-old rape victim in Ohio who had to travel to Indiana after being denied the procedure at home. The Indiana litigation is one of a slew of lawsuits that abortion rights advocates have filed in state courts across the country trying to strike down abortion bans under state Constitutions. In some cases, those challenges have found some success: Abortion bans are now blocked in Utah, Wyoming and North Dakota, and were previously paused in Louisiana and Kentucky before judges then allowed them to take effect.
Further Reading
North Dakota Abortion Ban Blocked In Court—Here’s Where State Lawsuits Stand Now (Forbes)
Women race political clock, cross state lines for abortions (Associated Press)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/08/30/aclu-planned-parenthood-sue-to-block-indiana-abortion-ban-before-it-takes-effect/