Indiana court upholds abortion ban in case asking for more health exceptions. Here's why
The decision is the latest blow to efforts by reproductive rights advocates seeking to expand abortion access after the Indiana General Assembly banned it except in the case of rape or incest, lethal fetal anomalies or risk to the health and life of the pregnant person. Under the first exception, abortions must be obtained within 10 weeks after fertilization while physicians can perform abortions for lethal fetal anomalies up to 20 weeks post-fertilization.
In his opinion, Judge Paul Mathias wrote that while people have a constitutionally protected right to abortion when their life or health is seriously at risk, Indiana's abortion ban already contains those exceptions. Chief Judge Robert Altice and Judge Mary DeBoer concurred.
The plaintiffs, abortion providers including Planned Parenthood, had argued the opposite, claiming there are specific circumstances where pregnancy risks someone's health or life without qualifying as an exception to the law. These included circumstances like health conditions where pregnancy would require pausing treatment to protect the fetus or severe mental illness. The providers also challenged how the law required all abortions to be performed by licensed hospitals or their outpatient surgical centers, which the court similarly rejected.
The appeal affirms the trial court's ruling, which did not find a health condition that would justify an abortion under the Indiana Constitution that was prohibited by the abortion ban law.
More: Indiana has a near-total abortion ban. But hospitals still performed some in 2024
The decision follows another Indiana Court of Appeals ruling in 2024 that allowed a small group of Hoosiers who do not believe life begins at conception to obtain an abortion, citing the state's religious freedom law. However, that ruling only applied to the plaintiffs and does not extend to every person with that belief.
That case has since been granted class-action status and has returned to trial court.
This story may be updated.
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Indianapolis Star
a day ago
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana court upholds abortion ban in case asking for more health exceptions. Here's why
The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the state's near-total abortion ban on Aug. 11, ruling that the 2022 law did not violate the "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" clause of the Indiana Constitution. The decision is the latest blow to efforts by reproductive rights advocates seeking to expand abortion access after the Indiana General Assembly banned it except in the case of rape or incest, lethal fetal anomalies or risk to the health and life of the pregnant person. Under the first exception, abortions must be obtained within 10 weeks after fertilization while physicians can perform abortions for lethal fetal anomalies up to 20 weeks post-fertilization. In his opinion, Judge Paul Mathias wrote that while people have a constitutionally protected right to abortion when their life or health is seriously at risk, Indiana's abortion ban already contains those exceptions. Chief Judge Robert Altice and Judge Mary DeBoer concurred. The plaintiffs, abortion providers including Planned Parenthood, had argued the opposite, claiming there are specific circumstances where pregnancy risks someone's health or life without qualifying as an exception to the law. These included circumstances like health conditions where pregnancy would require pausing treatment to protect the fetus or severe mental illness. The providers also challenged how the law required all abortions to be performed by licensed hospitals or their outpatient surgical centers, which the court similarly rejected. The appeal affirms the trial court's ruling, which did not find a health condition that would justify an abortion under the Indiana Constitution that was prohibited by the abortion ban law. More: Indiana has a near-total abortion ban. But hospitals still performed some in 2024 The decision follows another Indiana Court of Appeals ruling in 2024 that allowed a small group of Hoosiers who do not believe life begins at conception to obtain an abortion, citing the state's religious freedom law. However, that ruling only applied to the plaintiffs and does not extend to every person with that belief. That case has since been granted class-action status and has returned to trial court. This story may be updated.
USA Today
4 days ago
- USA Today
Trump never actually cared about making IVF affordable. He just wanted your vote.
President Donald Trump continues to make it clear that actually helping women isn't a priority with this administration. Turns out the 'father of IVF' isn't going to live up to the promise he made on the reelection campaign trail. Who could have seen that coming? After campaigning on the promise that the government would pay for in vitro fertilization or require insurers to cover it, The Washington Post reports that President Donald Trump has no actual plan to make the procedure more affordable. There are no talks of federal subsidies or Affordable Care Act coverage, and administration officials say that there is no plan to get insurance companies on board. When asked about this by The Post, the White House issued a statement saying, "The Administration is committed like none before it to using its authorities to deliver on this pledge" to make IVF more accessible in the United States. Of course, there's a difference between saying you're committed to doing something and actually doing it. I'm not shocked that Trump made a promise he has failed to keep – after all, this is the same man who said he was going to make the cost of living go down and stop the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Unfortunately, this is just another instance of his administration failing to prioritize reproductive rights. Let's look at what Trump said about IVF during the campaign On the campaign trail, Trump was all-in on IVF, making the claim in August 2024 that the government or insurance companies would pay for the treatment. 'We want to produce babies in this country, right?' Trump said at the time. In February, the president signed an executive order giving domestic policy advisers 90 days to brainstorm ways to lower the cost of IVF and other fertilization treatments. The deadline came and went without any public progress, and the administration recently declined to comment on it. Opinion: Planned Parenthood isn't the only loser in Supreme Court case. Women lose, too. IVF is an incredibly cost-prohibitive procedure that accounts for about 2% of births annually. The nonprofit organization KFF reports that the cost of a single round of IVF can range between $9,000 and $14,000. In the executive order, Trump claimed the costs could get up to $25,000. It's no surprise that an administration determined to pinch pennies is backing away from a plan that would cost them a lot of money, nor is it surprising that Trump would come to realize that forcing the insurance industry to do anything would hurt his chances at future donations. More than anything, it's unsurprising that Trump would go back on a promise that, while controversial in right-wing circles, would benefit families who want to have children. IVF isn't the only reproductive rights challenge we face The fight for IVF is closely linked to the fight for reproductive freedom and abortion access. It comes down to whether women can make decisions about their bodies and their ability to start a family, regardless of the beliefs of others. Opinion: Who would want to have babies under a Trump administration? Not me. In February 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos were considered human beings, leading IVF clinics in the state to pause services out of fear. The legislature quickly introduced a bill that protected patients from potential legal issues, but it didn't address embryonic personhood. The entire situation revealed how complex the legal landscape could become after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade, to the point that it could even harm people who are actively trying to conceive. Not financially supporting IVF comes at a time when women have lost the right to choose when and how they are going to start a family: The government is making it clear that women are subject to the whims of politicians, rather than being able to make decisions about their own bodies. Trump officials never actually cared about making IVF affordable, just like they don't actually care about improving the conditions for people who want to start families but can't afford to. It was all so that Trump could get reelected. Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno
Fox News
6 days ago
- Fox News
Pro-life group celebrates Planned Parenthood's closing of remaining Louisiana facilities: 'Huge success'
EXCLUSIVE: Planned Parenthood is set to shutter its last two Louisiana facilities next month, a move pro-life advocates say represents "success" amid efforts to shut down the organization. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, 40 Days for Life CEO and founder Shawn Carney said the closure of the clinics is a "huge victory" for the entire pro-life movement and his organization, which has prayed and held vigils outside Planned Parenthood facilities for roughly 20 years. "The only remaining Planned Parenthoods in the state of Louisiana, in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, are closing because they can't do abortions there," Carney said. "Planned Parenthood survives financially on abortions, and they survive financially on the American taxpayer. This is a huge success for the pro-life movement." Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast — which runs six clinics in the Houston, Texas, area and two in Louisiana — announced it will close its Baton Rouge and New Orleans clinics on Sept. 30. Planned Parenthood previously announced the closure of the Prevention Park and Southwest centers in the Houston area, one of which was the largest abortion facility in the Western Hemisphere. The remaining Houston facilities will be acquired by the organization's largest Texas affiliate. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast President Melaney Linton said in a statement that the closures in Louisiana are a "direct result of relentless political assaults." "This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare," she wrote. "Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies." Linton said "extremist" Republican lawmakers have done everything in their power to defund Planned Parenthood, adding: "Every health center closure, every patient who goes without care, every undetected cancer and untreated infection is on those lawmakers' hands." Facilities in GOP-led states with abortion restrictions, including Louisiana and Texas, have also been forced to cease the procedures following the 2022 Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe V. Wade and returned the power to make laws regarding abortion back to the states. GOP officials in recent years have made repeated attempts to shut down Planned Parenthood, even after nearly all abortions were banned under state law in Louisiana and Texas, as well as other Republican-controlled states. Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry wrote on X that the Planned Parenthood closures in his state mark a "major win for the pro-life movement" in his state, adding that he has fought to "rid our state of this failed organization" and that abortion "should NEVER be considered healthcare." The state's Attorney General Liz Murrill, also a Republican, wrote that the Planned Parenthood clinic closures are "welcome news." "Planned Parenthood built its business around promoting death. Louisiana chooses life. We will always protect women and babies," she wrote. While Planned Parenthood is not allowed to provide abortion procedures in Louisiana, it has helped women access out-of-state abortions. Planned Parenthood facilities have been shuttering in various states across the country, including California and New York, where the organization is selling its only Manhattan health center building for $39 million. "This will be the 40th Planned Parenthood to close in 2025," Carney said. I suspect before September 30, which is the end of their fiscal year, that we will see about 25 to 30 more Planned Parenthoods close, maybe more." The Trump administration has sought to impose funding cuts to Planned Parenthood that could lead to the closure of additional facilities. A provision in a GOP-backed spending bill would end Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from the program in 2023, although that provision is facing legal challenges and has been blocked, at least for now, by a federal judge. "Planned Parenthood is in the worst shape in their entire history, and they were before the fall of Roe V. Wade and before their defunding," Carney said. Carney predicted that Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country will continue to merge, just as Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast is set to do. Former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life activist Abby Johnson recently made a similar prediction in an interview with Fox News Digital. "The suffering ones, like Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, will end up merging with some of these other affiliates that they used to just compete against for abortion numbers," Carney said. "I think you'll see these closures lead to them not rebuilding, but just going away in some parts of the country and merging with other affiliates throughout the rest of America." "If they're a nonprofit, they can go out and do what all nonprofits do, what we do and churches do, and that's go out and raise money," he continued. "And if people want to support your mission, they will. You shouldn't be dependent on the federal government, and this just highlighted how dependent they were." Carney also noted that Planned Parenthood lost 78,000 individual donors last year, emphasizing that the organization is not only at risk of potentially losing public funding. Addressing Planned Parenthood's claim that abortions make up only 3% of its services, Carney said that is "complete garbage" and pointed to the shuttering of facilities in Republican-controlled states with abortion bans. "It's like McDonald's saying that only 3% of their business is selling french fries," he said. "If that were true, they wouldn't be closing all these facilities in pro-life states where you can't do abortions. So that's hardly believable anymore in 2025."
