The bill bans abortions due to fetal abnormalities, while also prohibiting abortions because of a fetus’ race, sex or ancestry.
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Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has until the end of the day Thursday to sign or veto the bill, the Indianapolis Star reported.
In a statement, Pence called the measure “a comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life”.
The Pence administration released this statement from the governor on the veto: “Throughout my public career, I have long believed in the public’s right to know and a free and independent press”.
A doctor, meanwhile, could face a wrongful-death lawsuit if an abortion is granted to a woman who requests it after learning about a pregnancy complication.
The bill also requires all miscarried or aborted fetuses to be buried or cremated.
As NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports, “North Dakota was the first state to pass such a ban, in 2013, although abortion providers say it’s hard to enforce”. The bills would have automatically become law if Pence had taken no action. Where Texas’ bill found a way to close clinics and make the ones remaining inaccessible, IN targets the women seeking abortions and uses financial and emotional scare tactics to hinder them.
Supporters said the law is necessary to ensure fair contests for the estimated 1 million in residents who play fantasy sports games. Like so many other polices put forth by Mike Pence and the Republican legislature, this does nothing but further damage our state’s reputation and divide our people.
At issue is controversial language added by the Senate barring abortions performed exclusively because of a fetus’ characteristics.
It remains to be seen how the new abortion law will work in practice. Thursday is the deadline for him to act on bills the General Assembly has approved.
Seven states ban those based on gender, and Arizona prohibits those based on race, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that tracks abortion laws. Last year, Pence signed a religious objections bill perceived by many as anti-gay, prompting some corporations to threaten to stop doing business in IN unless the law was changed. And opponents have said it intrudes into a woman’s private conversations with a doctor. According to the study’s findings, such laws are simply “intended to place restrictions on abortion services generally”.
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“You cannot just arbitrarily decide that abortion can’t exist under certain circumstances”, said Planned Parenthood President Betty Cockrum, with the Indiana/Kentucky Chapter.
