By Bryan Wells
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS–Weeks after the Indiana Senate rejected a similar bill, the Indiana House voted unanimously Tuesday for a measure that lets pregnant teenagers give consent to receive medical care.

Unlike the bill that died in the Senate, House Bill 1547 included a provision requiring medical providers to make a reasonable attempt to contact parents or guardians.

But a minor who is at least 16 years old can give consent for medical care for prenatal services, labor and delivery, and postpartum care if no parent or guardian is available.

Rep. Cindy Kirchhofer, the Beech Grove Republican who authored the bill, aid that “we hope in all cases that there is a parent or guardian to help guide the health care decisions. However, we all know, we all know too well, that in today’s age, that’s always not the case.”

Kirchhofer made it clear that some young teens going through pregnancy don’t have the family or guardian support needed to carry out medical decisions.

“Families are sometimes not intact, sometimes the individual is suffering from substance use disorder, or a parent can be incarcerated, or just out of the picture,” she said.

Kirchhofer said that in those cases, or “in the case of a parent’s refusal, we give the health care providers the direction to provide treatment that’s in the best interest of the minor.”

Parents or legal guardians will still be able to access health care treatment and information that was provided by the health officials.

The bill is part of a state effort to reduce Indiana’s infant and maternal mortality rates, which exceed the national averages.

“Again,” Kirchhofer emphasized, “healthy moms, healthy babies.”

FOOTNOTE: Bryan Wells is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.