Abortion service providers vow legal action as new abortion law looms
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A reproductive law expert on Monday said to expect federal and state lawsuits over Indiana’s new abortion law.
According to the state health department, the new law voids all abortion clinic licenses when it goes into effect Sept. 15. This means only hospitals and surgical centers affiliated with them will be able to provide abortions under the extremely limited exceptions to the ban. Indiana University law professor, Jody Madeira said, “It’s likely the Department of Justice will sue to block the law, as it already has to block a ban in Idaho.”
(Indiana’s) is actually one of the strictest laws in the country and it violates several of the provisions that (President Joe) Biden called for,” she said. “For example, providing exceptions for the life and health of the mother that are meaningful and Indiana’s really are not, in a substantial sense.”
Madeira said, Planned Parenthood could separately sue under the state constitution’s provisions dealing with privacy. She said some provisions of the new law are particularly vulnerable to litigation, especially a section banning abortion for fatal fetal abnormalities after 20 weeks. Madeira said, most women don’t get ultrasounds that can detect such abnormalities until around the 20th week of pregnancy, so a lawsuit could claim the provision is unworkable.
Rebecca Gibron, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, which runs Planned Parenthood’s operations in Indiana, said the organization is still reviewing its legal options. She said Planned Parenthood provides a variety of services including sexually-transmitted infection screening, birth control and maternal wellness care, so it’s vital its facilities remain open in some form.
“We are not going anywhere. We are here to stay and to provide services and reproductive health care to our communities,” Gibron said.
Gibron said, patients already are calling because they are confused what services are still available. Until the new law takes effect next month, abortions in Indiana are governed by the current law, which allows abortions for any reason up to 20 weeks into pregnancy.
“Patients are scared. Patients are communicating that, if they find themselves in a situation where they need or want an abortion, they are upset and concerned that this law now requires them to leave their home state,” Gibron said.
If court challenges to Indiana’s law fail, Madeira said, the only option Indiana residents will have to access abortion services is to travel to a state with more lenient abortion laws, such as Illinois. State law already prohibits abortion-related telehealth or telemedicine services. Gibron said, Planned Parenthood will help people access abortion in other states if necessary.