INDIANAPOLIS — The fate of Indiana’s Republican-backed abortion ban on Thursday will come before the state’s Supreme Court as it hears arguments over whether it violates federal safeguards. privacy protection under the state constitution or not.
Abortion has been allowed to continue in the state since a district judge blocked enforcement of the law in September, a week after the law passed in August went into effect.
Indiana became the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court removed federal protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in June.
The arguments made before the Indiana judges come after leading courts in two other conservative states split this month over the state’s similar constitutional challenges to their abortion bans, with South Carolina’s ban repealed and Idaho upheld in the latest examples of the patchwork of state law now in place.
Indiana ban, which removes licenses for all abortion clinics in the state, including exceptions allowing hospital abortions in cases of rape and incest, by 10 weeks during fertilization; protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if the fetus is diagnosed with a fatal malformation.
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Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon, a Republican, blocked Indiana’s enforcement of the ban in a lawsuit filed by abortion clinic operators, writing that it was “reasonably likely that This substantial restriction of individual autonomy violates the Indiana Constitution’s freedom guarantees” and that the clinics could prevail in the legal challenge.
The five-member Supreme Court, all appointed by Republican governors, is expected to hear arguments Thursday morning from the state attorney general’s office and the Civil Liberties Union. the United States of Indiana, representing Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinic operators challenged the ban.
Courts do not have a deadline to make a decision and it often takes weeks or longer before making a decision in adjudication cases.
The state attorney general’s office has argued that Indiana had anti-abortion laws when its current constitution was drafted in 1851 and that the judge’s ruling wrongly created abortion rights.
“The Judiciary does not have the power to amend the Constitution with fiat,” it said in a court filing. “Reading the novel ‘rights’ in the Constitution puts the judiciary on a dangerous, unprincipled path that undermines the rule of law.”
Court orders have allowed abortions to continue under previous Indiana laws that generally banned abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and severely restricted abortions after the 13th week.
The ACLU said the clinics did not argue the state could not regulate abortion, but believed the ban violated “core constitutional rights to privacy and bodily autonomy.”
“Under the extremely narrow exceptions (of the ban), only a very small fraction of Hoosiers can access vital health care, and only if they have been subjected to rape, incest or serious medical threats. certain importance,” ACLU attorneys said in court filings. “Even then, countless logistical hurdles will prevent Hoosiers from qualifying for abortion.”
The question of whether the Indiana constitution protects the right to abortion remains undecided. A state appeals court ruled in 2004 that the right to privacy is a core state constitutional value for all residents, including women seeking abortions.
But the Indiana Supreme Court later upheld a law requiring an 18-hour waiting period before a woman can have an abortion without mentioning whether the state constitution includes privacy or the right to an abortion. .
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