Court reinstates Indiana’s abortion burial, cremation law

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal appeals court has reinstated an Indiana law adopted in 2016 that requires abortion clinics to either bury or cremate fetal remains.

The ruling released Monday overturns an Indiana judge’s decision in September that the law infringed upon the religious and free speech rights of people who do not believe aborted fetuses deserve the same treatment as deceased people.

The appeals court cited a 2019 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the fetal remains provisions of the law signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence.

Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature approved an abortion ban law over the summer, but abortions have been allowed to continue as courts consider whether the ban violates the state constitution.