The ACLU and Planned Parenthood have filed a lawsuit against Indiana over its restrictive new abortion law, signed in March by Governor Mike Pence, which bans abortions in cases of fetal abnormalities and imposes a litany of other restrictions and requirements.
The lawsuit (pdf), filed Thursday in U.S. district court by ACLU Indiana and the Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK), states that the legislation is unconstitutional and seeks an injunction to block its enforcement. The law is set to go into effect on July 1.
“The United States has repeatedly stressed that a woman, not the state, is to determine whether or not to obtain an abortion,” ACLU-IN legal director Ken Falk said. “The state of Indiana’s attempt to invade a woman’s privacy and to control her decision in this regard is unprecedented and unconstitutional.”
Indiana House Enrolled Act 1337 prohibits abortions in the early stages of pregnancy based on fetal abnormalities and also mandates the burial or cremation of aborted or miscarried remains; restricts fetal tissue donation; and requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at hospitals.
It also requires doctors to report if a fetal abnormality was present before an abortion—which would undermine a Planned Parenthood principle not to ask patients why they are seeking the procedure—and to inform patients of the ban as part of Indiana’s state-mandated “informed consent” process, which the ACLU said violates the First Amendment.
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT