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Thursday, March 31, 2011
Ind. Law - "The bill's passage, Turner said, 'will make Indiana one of the most pro-life states in America'"
A quote from a story today by Heather Gillers in the Indianapolis Star. More:
Legislation that would make the state's abortion laws among the most restrictive in the nation overwhelmingly cleared the Indiana House on Wednesday.For more, see yesterday's ILB entry.Lawmakers voted 72-23 in favor of House Bill 1210, which shortens the window during which abortions are legal and requires that women seeking abortions be told that the procedure carries a risk of breast cancer.
"It is our responsibility to protect the unborn," said the bill's author, Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero. "I hope with this legislation, women will be able to make a more informed decision about their pregnancy, and I hope ultimately we'll have fewer abortions in this state." * * *
The Senate abortion bill, Senate Bill 328, sponsored by Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, was approved 39-9 in February. Like the House bill, it requires abortion providers to tell women that the procedure carries a risk of breast cancer and that a fetus can feel pain. Women also must be told that couples are "willing and waiting" to adopt children and that those couples may pay for prenatal care and childbirth.
Other provision of HB 1210 include:
The Indiana State Department of Health would be required to post information about fetal development and abortion on its website.
The attorney general or a county prosecutor would be able to file an injunction against any abortion provider they think has not followed the rules in the bill.
Abortions would be illegal after 20 weeks, except to preserve the life of the woman. Current state law prohibits abortions after viability, which is determined by the doctor, usually at about 24 weeks. Ninety-seven percent of abortions in the state occur before 13 weeks, according to Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
Many of the measures contained in the House and Senate bills have been longtime goals of anti-abortion activists. Their campaign got a boost this year when 19 new Republicans were elected to the House and six new Republicans to the Senate. * * *
Betty Cockrum, president of Planned Parenthood of Indiana, called Wednesday "a pretty bad day for women and families and the doctor-patient relationship."
"It is alarming to watch lawmakers vote against medically accurate information," she said. "We have all these lay persons who are writing scripts into Indiana law and mandating that doctors read them to their patients when they're not fact-based. . . . It has no place in public health."
House members voted down an amendment by Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, a nurse who supports the bill, to strike the breast cancer provision. A Senate committee voted down an amendment by Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Elletsville, that would have required information given to women seeking abortions be "medically and scientifically accurate."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 31, 2011 09:44 AM
Posted to Indiana Law