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the focus of the law, already the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, is punishment. While it wouldn’t penalize a woman who has an abortion, the doctor who performs the abortion could be sued for wrongful death. There’s also a provision that mandates an aborted fetus be buried or cremated.
What’s missing is any funding for support for parents from legislators so committed to protecting life. Pro-life Rep. Sharon Negele, R-Attica — who sponsored legislation last year that took aim at a Planned Parenthood clinic — said the bill “does nothing to save innocent lives. There’s no education, there’s no funding. It’s just penalties.”
Negele was one of several Republican female lawmakers who opposed the bill, partly because of the stealth-like way it moved through the legislature: An earlier version of the bill that was passed by the House didn’t include the ban, which was added in the Senate. “I feel this is government overreaching,” Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Beech Grove, said. “We haven’t done a proper process to vet this.”
Given that sort of opposition from legislators who would be expected to support it, you might wonder how this bill ever became law. After all, a similar measure failed last year. But this is an election year, and two of the bill’s four initial sponsors in the Senate are running in contested primaries, where anti-abortion credentials are highly valued. Just a coincidence? Probably not.
In signing the bill, Pence ignored the serious concerns expressed by a wide swath of elected officials and members of the public alike. Among them: The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which called the new law a “poorly conceived bill” that “threatens both the health and the constitutional rights of women in Indiana.”
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