Indiana Officially Now Has Strictest Abortion Law


On Thursday, Indiana Governor, Mike Pence (R) signed into law one of the most strict abortion laws in our country. This law not only includes banning abortions where down syndrome or other “fetal genetic abnormalities” are detected, but also restricts abortions based on sex, race, or ancestry.

Though women would not face any reprimand, the doctors performing the “forbidden abortions” face possible state licensing discipline and wrongful death suits.

Indiana is the second state to ban such abortions; the first was North Dakota in 2013. Indiana will be the first state, however, to include the burial or cremation of the fetus; making it illegal to use the fetal remains as “medical waste.” 

Pence believes this law is:

a comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life.”

This ‘comprehensive’ measure will not take affect until July. In the meantime, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky plan to take this measure to court. Betty Cockrum of Planned Parenthood, stated:

“It is clear that the governor is more comfortable practicing medicine without a license than behaving as a responsible lawyer, as he picks and chooses which constitutional rights are appropriate.”

Planned Parenthood is not the only critic of the law. Several state House members who are Republican, pro-life women, felt the “bill went too far.” Some critics also allege that:

the measure would require pregnant women to endure complicated pregnancies that pose a danger to their health and would lead women to not speak candidly with their doctors.

Pence’s opponent in the current gubernatorial race, Democrat John Gregg, is unsurprisingly against this new measure. He stated:

While I am personally pro-life, this legislation was not well thought out or properly vetted…If I was in the legislature I would have voted against it, and if I were governor today, I would have vetoed it

A “staunch opponent of abortion,” Pence is standing by his decision, stating:

I believe that a society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable — the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn.

Abortion is not society’s decision to be judged, this is only a woman’s decision. If there is going to be any judgment passing, it should only be the woman making this decision, making a judgment about what she needs to do in her given situation.

Pence is the one here, along with the state legislature who put the bill on his desk, who is admonoshing society by trying to tell doctors how to practice medicine and by trying to tell women what to do with their bodies.

Featured image by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.