An Indiana law banning most abortions — with narrow exceptions for rape and incest — will go into effect Tuesday.
The law, which was passed in a July 2022 special session after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal right to an abortion, had been held up by an injunction until the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in late June that the ban does not violate the state constitution.
Three of the court’s five justices agreed that while Indiana’s constitution provides some protection of abortion rights, the “General Assembly otherwise retains broad legislative discretion for determining whether and the extent to which to prohibit abortions.”
The court’s decision invalidated a county judge’s ruling that the ban likely violated the state constitution’s privacy protections. That judge’s order had allowed abortions to continue in Indiana since September, despite the ban.
The practical effect of the ban means the state would eliminate the licenses for the remaining six abortion clinics — including Planned Parenthood’s Merrillville location — and ban the vast majority of abortions even in the earliest stages of a pregnancy. The ban includes narrow exceptions allowing abortions at hospitals in cases of rape or incest before 10 weeks post-fertilization. It also allows abortions up to 20 weeks to protect the life and physical health of the mother or if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly.
On Monday, ACLU of Indiana filed a petition requesting a rehearing in a last-ditch effort to stop the ban from taking effect as scheduled. The petition asks the court to allow the injunction to remain in effect so the court can adjudicate the “life-or-health exception recognized by Indiana law,” according to court records.
A separate court challenge to the ban remains alive over claims the law violates the state’s 2015 religious freedom law signed by GOP then-Gov. Mike Pence.
Indiana Department of Health data show the state’s abortion total during 2022 jumped by 13% — an increase caused by out-of-state patients coming to Indiana for the procedure as tighter laws took effect in Kentucky and Ohio. But in a sign of the quickly changing landscape of abortion availability, the number of Indiana procedures plunged in the last months of 2022 and the first months of 2023.
Nearby clinics in Illinois have seen an uptick in services from Indiana patients even before the ban was passed in 2022.
In early July, Planned Parenthood announced that all of its Indiana appointments for abortion consultations were booked due to a surge in demand for services ahead of the law going into effect. Planned Parenthood directed patients to its navigator team at 317-205-8088 or abortionfinder.org.
The Post-Tribune contributed.
