Washington (CNN)Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday signed a bill that bars women from seeking an abortion because the child will be born with a disability, a controversial restriction that is one of the tightest abortion laws in the country.
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Pence signed the measure just hours ahead of his deadline to take action on the proposal approved by the Republican-dominated Legislature two weeks ago, the governor’s office said.
The law would also prohibit abortions from being performed because of a fetus’s race, sex or ancestry.
Pence, a Republican, said he signed the bill because he thinks “that a society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable – the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn”.
According to the law, abortion providers could face wrongful death lawsuits or professional sanctions if an abortion is performed exclusively on the basis of a genetic condition, reported AOL.
Pence was a prominent abortion rights opponent while serving in Congress before being elected governor in 2012 and received ideal scores from Indiana Right to Life for his record of opposing abortion.
“Now Indiana’s Legislature has passed a bill that forces women to give birth if a doctor has detected a fetal abnormality”, the group said. We are pleased that our state values life no matter an individual’s potential disability, gender or race.
In addition, the measure requires that aborted or miscarried babies be interred or cremated, an issue that challenges the practice of abortion clinics contracting with waste management companies that ultimately burn aborted babies with bio-hazard medical waste.
A petition circulating on Moveon.org that hoped to persuade Pence to veto the bill had more than 5,600 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
“With Governor Pence signing fantasy sports legislation into law, IN has taken a sensible approach by clarifying the legal status of fantasy sports IN the state and establishing some tough, but smart consumer protections to ensure games are fair and players know it”, a FanDuel representative said IN a statement.
Others point out that the bill will have an emotional as well as a physical impact on women and families who will no longer have certain reproductive choices after the bill goes into effect.
Pence is facing a re-election campaign this fall against Democrat John Gregg, who says he would have vetoed the bill. The bills involve the ability of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to impose rules and limiting transparency at private universities.
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Pregnant women are also now required to obtain informed consent for an abortion in a private setting.
