Abortion in Indiana
Previously abortion in Indiana was legal up to 20 weeks; a near-total ban that was scheduled to take effect on August 1, 2023, was placed on hold due to further legal challenges,[2] but is set to take place, after the Indiana Supreme Court denied an appeal by the ACLU, and once it certifies a previous ruling that an abortion ban doesn't violate the state constitution.
However, on September 22, 2022, Special Judge Kelsey B. Hanlon of the Monroe County Circuit Court granted a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the ban.
[5] Following the hearing, Chief Justice Loretta Rush stated that an opinion on the arguments would be issued "in due course" without a clear timeline of when that would be published.
One case that gained nationwide notice was that of Eliza Francis Levesay, a young woman from a poor family in Decatur County, Indiana, located southeast of the state capitol, Indianapolis.
Levesay had an affair with a young man from a wealthy family named William Miers, which resulted in her becoming pregnant and seeking an abortion.
"[11] Due to developments in medical science, physicians and other advanced practitioners could predict with some accuracy whether children would be born with serious physical or mental defects that would significantly impact the child's survivability and quality of life.
Medical professionals were aware of the potential for significant birth defects associated with the use of thalidomide or Rubella during pregnancy, both of which were known to cause serious physical deformities.
[12] Indiana did not have specific statutes or judicial decisions to support the right to abortion for medical necessity of either the mother or the fetus at this time; however, legal precedent did exist in which judges had accepted suicidal tendencies as grounds for abortion in cases where the continuation of a pregnancy would present a significant threat to the woman's mental health.
[11] Their proposed amendments called for abortion to be permitted in cases of rape or incest as well as for women who they described as “mentally defective” because they were considered to be victims either of circumstances or of crimes and, therefore, should not be required to maintain the “involuntary” pregnancy.
[11] The state passed a law in the 2000s banning abortions after 22 weeks based on the theory that this is the point in development after which the fetus can feel pain.
The bill also demanded that aborted fetus be treated as deceased humans, requiring clinics to bury or incinerate the bodies if the woman did not take control of this.
State governments with Republican majorities started to push these bills after Brett M. Kavanaugh was confirmed as a US Supreme Court judge, replacing the more liberal Anthony Kennedy.
[18] The US Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling meant the state could no longer regulate abortion in the first trimester.
[19][20] In response, Indiana passed a law known as "Senate Bill 1" (SB1)[1] (authored by Susan Glick, sponsored by Wendy McNamara and Joanne King), which went into effect on September 15, 2022, and banned abortions with exceptions for certain cases of rape, incest, risk to the life of the mother, or fatal fetal anomalies.
However, on September 22, 2022, this law was blocked by Special Judge Kelsey B. Hanlon, thus effectively returning the status of legal abortions in Indiana to pre-SB1 conditions.
[21] Mifepristone (Name Brand: Mifeprex) has been an FDA approved drug since 2000, with the generic product released in 2019, and is the focus of the majority of these challenges.
On January 3, 2023, the FDA "finalized a rule change that broaden[ed] availability of abortion pills to many more pharmacies, including large chains and mail-order companies.
The FDA, as part of mifepristone's Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) Program, requires pharmacies to register and become certified prior to dispensing the drug to patients.
[33] Physicians performing abortions within the state are required to report data related to terminated pregnancies to the Indiana Department of Health.
Beginning in 2021, physicians were also required to report abortion complications to the Indiana Department of Health in accordance with IC 16-34-2-4.7, which became effective on October 28, 2021.
[36][37][38] After Bell discovered she was pregnant, she went to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indiana with her friend Heather Clark, seeking an abortion.
[41] Bell was subsequently confused about what to do, according to Clark, alternating between plans to have an abortion in Kentucky, carrying to term and placing the baby for adoption, or running away to California.
[40] Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison in Indiana in March 2015 for aborting her fetus using medications she had ordered over the Internet.
Women wanted to protest this activity as other state legislatures started to consider similar bans as part of a move to try to overturn Roe v. Wade.
[61][62] In Evansville, Indiana on September 12, 2024, an abortion rights protest was held outside of a plaza where an anti-abortion banquet was taking place.
[64] On April 11, 2013, Benjamin David Curell, 27, caused extensive damage to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bloomington, Indiana, vandalizing it with an axe.
