By Abrahm Hurt
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Indiana are heading to court to fight Indiana’s 2018 abortion law.

Senate Enrolled Act 340 requires health care providers to annually report 26 abortion complications to the Indiana State Department of Health. The complications include infection, blood clots, cardiac arrest and physical injury association with treatment performed at the abortion facility.

The legislation also adds a number of new requirements for abortion clinics to comply with, including having women who have been prescribed an abortion-inducing drug sign a form that says they have been informed of the manufacturer’s instructions.

Jane Henegar, ACLU of Indiana executive director, said Indiana politicians are creating irrational demands and intrusive requirements.

“Indiana politicians are in a race to be the most extreme in the nation as they find new and reprehensible ways to block women from getting abortions and shame and punish those who do,” she said in a statement. “SEA 340 singles out women and their health providers, shame women for their personal medical decisions, and threatens their doctors with criminal penalties.”

The plaintiffs are claiming the law violated due process and equal protection by singling out abortion procedures and requiring invasive reporting that has nothing to do with protecting women’s health.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, could not be reached for comments regarding the law.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, also could not be reached for comments.

“Indiana is burdening abortion patients and their medical providers with reporting requirements that make little sense. These requirements are unconstitutional and need to be struck down,” Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director, said in a press release.

Christie Gillespie, president, and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, said the law is not concerned with patient safety.

“Abortion care is already incredibly safe, she said in a statement. “SEA 340 is yet another attempt by politicians to shame and stigmatize pregnant Hoosiers and spread the myth that abortion is dangerous.”

In recent years, the Indiana chapter of the ACLU has challenged and won similar types of cases. The state has paid the chapter more than $290,000 in legal fees.

After the bill was passed, the Legislative Services Agency in its fiscal notes on the legislation, reported that the state could end up paying the legal fees of the plaintiff if the abortion measure was challenged.

Most recently, on April 20, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down key features of House Enrolled Act 1337 that would have banned abortions based on the fetus’ genetic abnormality, gender or race.

In a 2-1 decision, the appellate panel found the nondiscrimination provisions in the law violated precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey.

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