Judge considers halting enforcement of Indiana’s near-total abortion ban – The Times of Northwest Indiana

Indiana's near-total abortion ban remains in effect for now as a southern Indiana judge weighs a request to halt its enforcement while courts determine the constitutionality of Senate Enrolled Act 1.

Judge Kelsey Hanlon of the Owen Circuit Court, a Republican sitting as special judge in Monroe County, listened to some 75 minutes of oral argument on the issue Monday.

She subsequently pledged to rule "expeditiously" on a motion for a preliminary injunction.

The new abortion law, which took effect Thursday, prohibits all abortions in Indiana from the moment of conception, except within 10 weeks of fertilization for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or 20 weeks if necessary to prevent serious physical impairment or the death of a pregnant woman, or because of a lethal fetal anomaly.

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Pro-life and pro-choice protesters take to the Porter County Courthouse lawn in Valparaiso.

The statute, approved Aug. 5 by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, also shuts down abortion services at Planned Parenthood clinics by requiring every abortion be completed in a hospital or hospital-owned surgical center, and it puts doctors at risk of losing their medical license if they fail to sufficiently justify the legal basis for an abortion.

Kenneth Falk, legal director at the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, argued on behalf of a variety of abortion rights plaintiffs the near-total abortion ban runs afoul of the Indiana Constitution and must be struck down.

Specifically, Falk said the Constitution's declaration that all people have inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, establishes a right to privacy, including the right to abortion, upon which the General Assembly cannot infringe.

He said that absent a right to privacy, couldn't the General Assembly, in the name of preserving potential life, eliminate the rape and incest exceptions to the abortion ban, prohibit access to contraception generally and even criminalize male masturbation?

"We are asking the court to recognize that the Legislature went too far," Falk said. "Women will suffer. Women will die (if the law remains in effect)."

Solicitor General Thomas Fisher, a Jasper County native defending the statute on behalf of the state, said that if the framers of the Indiana Constitution intended to create a right to privacy they would have written it into the state's governing charter.

Instead, records show abortion was prohibited by law both before and after the 1851 Constitution was adopted, and abortion remained a criminal offense in the Hoosier State until the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide.

Fisher said the General Assembly was well within its rights to once again restrict abortion access following the June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that rescinded the right to abortion established by Roe, and a state court should not unilaterally overturn the will of the people of Indiana as expressed through their elected representatives.

"Unborn children literally will die if this law does not go into effect," Fisher said. "Privacy is nowhere in the Indiana Constitution mentioned as an undifferentiated right. ... There just isn't enough there."

Falk's second argument focused on a different constitutional provision that prohibits treating similar entities differently. He said the law's requirement that all abortions be performed in hospitals or affiliated surgical centers unlawfully discriminates against abortion clinics.

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Fisher said Indiana only licensed abortion clinics post-Roe. With Roe no longer good law, he said legislators appropriately chose to restrict abortion access to hospitals and surgery centers capable of providing all necessary follow-up care.

No matter how the judge rules on Falk's request for a preliminary injunction, the decision is all but certain to be ultimately appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit claiming the near-total abortion ban runs afoul of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act is scheduled for review next month by an Indianapolis court.

In Northwest Indiana, abortion access remains largely accessible to Region women at a Planned Parenthood health center just across the state line at 19831 Governors Hwy. in Flossmoor, Illinois.

State Sen. Michael Griffin, D-Highland

1st Senate District

Represents: Hammond (south side), Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville

Experience: Former Highland clerk-treasurer; university instructor

Committees: Insurance and Financial Institutions; Local Government

State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago

2nd Senate District

Represents: Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, Gary (west side), Griffith, Hobart, Merrillville

Experience: State senator since 2008, previously served 1994-98; attorney

Committees: Commerce and Technology; Insurance and Financial Institutions (ranking member); Judiciary (ranking member); Rules and Legislative Procedure; Tax and Fiscal Policy; Utilities (ranking member)

State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary

3rd Senate District

Represents: Gary, Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart, Merrillville, Crown Point

Experience: State senator since 2016; community relations manager

Committees: Appropriations (ranking member); Education and Career Development; Health and Provider Services; Joint Rules; Rules and Legislative Procedure

State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton

4th Senate District

Represents: Ogden Dunes, Portage, Chesterton, South Haven, Burns Harbor, Beverly Shores, Michigan City, Westville

Experience: State senator since 2021; attorney

Committees: Corrections and Criminal Law (ranking member); Environmental Affairs; Local Government; Pensions and Labor; Public Policy

State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso

5th Senate District

Represents: Valparaiso, Hebron, Kouts, Jasper County

Experience: State senator since 2007; attorney

Committees: Appropriations; Ethics; Health and Provider Services (chairman); Rules and Legislative Procedure; Tax and Fiscal Policy

State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell

6th Senate District

Represents: St. John, Cedar Lake, Crown Point, Winfield, Lowell, Newton County

Experience: State senator since 2014, state representative 2012-14; small business owner

Committees: Environmental Affairs; Local Government; Tax and Fiscal Policy

State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores

8th Senate District

Represents: LaPorte County

Experience: State senator since 2016; consultant

Committees: Corrections and Criminal Law; Insurance and Financial Institutions; Judiciary; Local Government

State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond

1st House District

Represents: Hammond, Whiting

Experience: State representative since 2018; retired Cook County, Ill., probation officer

Committees: Environmental Affairs; Family, Children and Human Affairs; Natural Resources

State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago

2nd House District

Represents: East Chicago, Gary (west side)

Experience: State representative since 2016; small business owner

Committees: Government and Regulatory Reform; Roads and Transportation; Ways and Means

State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary

3rd House District

Represents: Gary (downtown and east side), Lake Station, New Chicago, Hobart

Experience: State representative since 2018; attorney

Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Courts and Criminal Code (ranking member); Government and Regulatory Reform

State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso

4th House District

Represents: Valparaiso

Experience: State representative since 2006; aviation safety consultant

Committees: Elections and Apportionment; Roads and Transportation; Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications (chairman)

State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City

9th House District

Represents: Michigan City, Chesterton, Beverly Shores, Long Beach, Westville

Experience: State representative since 2018; retired small business owner

Committees: Environmental Affairs; Natural Resources (ranking member)

State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage

10th House District

Represents: Portage, Chesterton, Ogden Dunes, Burns Harbor, South Haven

Experience: State representative since 2008; financial solutions associate

Committees: Employment, Labor and Pensions; Roads and Transportation (ranking member); Veterans Affairs and Public Safety

State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron

11th House District

Represents: St. John, Cedar Lake, Lowell, Schneider, Hebron, Kouts

Experience: State representative since 2014; farmer, former state environmental regulator

Committees: Agriculture and Rural Development (vice chairman); Courts and Criminal Code; Environmental Affairs

State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster

12th House District

Represents: Munster, Hammond (south side), Highland, Griffith

Experience: State representative since 2020; small businessman

Committees: Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development; Employment, Labor and Pensions; Veterans Affairs and Public Safety

State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary

14th House District

Represents: Gary (south side), Merrillville

Experience: State representative since 1990; education professor at Indiana University Northwest

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Judge considers halting enforcement of Indiana's near-total abortion ban - The Times of Northwest Indiana