On October 10, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and other pro-abortion groups filed an appeal of a court’s September ruling that denied a request by Planned Parenthood to broaden the medical exceptions under which abortions would be allowed under Indiana law.
Current state law, SB 1, protects nearly all preborn children from abortion, permitting it only in cases of rape and incest, if there is a “lethal fetal anomaly” before 20 weeks, and when “reasonable medical judgment dictates that performing the abortion is necessary to prevent any serious health risk to the pregnant woman or to save the pregnant woman’s life.” Per the law, abortions may only be committed in a hospital.
The abortion industry challenged the Indiana law, arguing that the medical exemptions were “too limited” while asking the court to waive the hospital-only rule. Notably, abortion supporters were lobbying to make mental illness a medical exception to the law — an exception that could ultimately open the door to unlimited abortion. However, in September, Judge Kelsey Hanlon upheld the state’s law, noting that the law as written does not unduly burden women.
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With the legal challenge, the case will now move to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
“As this lawsuit proceeds, Hoosiers’ lives hang in the balance under Indiana’s near-total abortion ban. This extreme restriction is putting pregnant people’s health at serious risk, leading to preventable tragedies and even death,” claimed the plaintiffs in a statement, though they did not provide any evidence as to how the state’s pro-life law is leading to deaths.
As Indiana Right to Life President and Chief Executive Office Mike Fichter previously noted, the state’s current law is saving lives.
“The limits in Indiana law have been highly effective in ending the killing of over 9,000 babies per year and stopped the abortion profiteers from making millions at the expense of women and their babies,” he said in a statement after Hanlon’s September ruling. “The Indiana Supreme Court has already ruled Indiana’s law is constitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in its 2022 Dobbs ruling the right for states to determine abortion law. As businesses like Planned Parenthood continue to seek ways to undermine Indiana law, we will remain focused on helping Indiana become a model state in showing compassion for pregnant mothers and providing protection for unborn babies.”
