Indiana’s Attorney General announced Monday that he will appeal the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to block a law prohibiting abortions due to a positive test for birth defects such as Down syndrome.
Attorney General Curtis Hill insisted that he would appeal to reinstate an indefinitely blocked law — HEA 1337 — requiring funerals be held for fetal remains as well as ultrasounds for women intending to abort.
“By declaring unconstitutional a state law that would bar abortions based solely on race, sex or disability such as Down syndrome, a federal judge has cleared the path for genetic discrimination that once seemed like science fiction,” Hill said Monday in a written statement to IndyStar. He added that the state should protect the unborn rather than allow life to be terminated simply because of less than desirable physical characteristics.
After former Gov. Mike Pence signed the bill into law in June 2016, Pratt issued a preliminary injunction in April 2017 in response to a suit filed by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This second injunction comes just prior to the death of the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, which would have affected abortion and contraceptive access.
“The United States Supreme Court has stated in categorical terms that a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability,” U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said in her Friday ruling according to the IndyStar. “It is clear and undisputed that unless Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Se. Pa. v. Casey are overturned by the United States Supreme Court, this Court is bound to follow that precedent,” the ruling stated.
Abortion providers don’t quite see the ruling the same way. “Every person deserves the right to make their own personal decisions about abortion,” CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Christie Gillespie said on Monday in disagreement with Hill.
The state of Indiana must appeal Pratt’s Friday ruling within 30 days in order for an appeal or amendment to occur.
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