Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Part Of 2016 Indiana Anti-Abortion Law
Indiana Planned Parenthood and ACLU leaders cheered today (FRI) after a federal appeals court once again struck down part of an Indiana anti-abortion law. As Indiana Public Broadcasting’s Brandon Smith reports, the 2016 measure banned abortions because of a fetus’s characteristics.
The 2016 law barred women from seeking abortions solely because of a fetus’s sex, race, or potential disability. A federal judge struck down that provision last year – and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. In its opinion, the appellate court says the U.S. Supreme Court is clear: a state cannot prohibit abortions before viability.
Indiana Planned Parenthood and ACLU leaders cheered Friday another legal victory against the state’s anti-abortion laws.
One of the appellate judges, Federal Judge Daniel Manion, expressed frustration that U.S. Supreme Court precedent doesn’t allow Indiana to ban such abortions. But ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk says the nation’s high court had a chance three years ago to alter those precedents.
“And came down with what many people thought was even a stronger affirmation of the right of women to obtain abortions free from undue state interference,” Falk says.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky CEO Christie Gillespie, left, and ACLU of Indiana Legal Director Ken Falk discuss their latest legal victory over the state of Indiana in an abortion lawsuit. (Brandon Smith/IPB News)
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky CEO Christie Gillespie says she’s frustrated Indiana lawmakers continue to pass anti-abortion measures.
“When we really could be … focusing on how to prevent unintended pregnancies,” Gillespie says.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have scored legal victories over the state in five lawsuits challenging such statutes since 2011. Those legal battles have cost the state millions of dollars.
The Appeals Court also invalidated a provision that required medical facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains. The state argued it has a right to ensure the dignified and humane disposal of human remains. But the court says the law does not recognize the fetus as a person.
Manion, in his separate opinion, disagrees with the decision to strike down the fetal remains provisions. He says the state is well within its rights to “protect public sensibilities” and require fetal remains to be buried or cremated by medical facilities.