The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the state’s near-total abortion ban from another legal challenge by abortion care providers.
The court rejected the providers’ argument that the ban’s exception for abortions when the pregnant person’s serious health or life is at risk is too narrow.
The state Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that the Indiana Constitution only guarantees the right to abortion to save the life of the pregnant person.
Abortion care providers, including Planned Parenthood, then revised their lawsuit. This time, they argued that there are many physical and mental health conditions that threaten a patient’s well-being but don’t allow someone to legally access an abortion under state law.
The Indiana Court of Appeals disagreed. It said as long as there is an alternative form of treatment for a medical condition, the right to an abortion isn’t constitutionally guaranteed.
It also acknowledged that the ban might require physicians to wait until a patient’s condition is “desperate” before performing an abortion. But the three judge panel said that’s the balance required by the law and the state constitution.
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Abortion care providers also argued that the law’s language — that abortion is legal “to prevent any serious health risk to the pregnant woman or to save the pregnant woman's life” — leads to reasonable disagreements among physicians about what “serious health risk” means. And the providers said those disagreements — and the threat of prosecution for violating the abortion ban — will stop a doctor from performing the procedure, even when legal.
Again, the appellate court acknowledged that claim but said it’s not enough to make the law unconstitutional.
Lastly, the abortion care providers challenged a portion of the law that bans abortion from being performed anywhere but a hospital or ambulatory surgical center owned by a hospital.
But the Indiana Court of Appeals said because the vast majority of legal abortions now involve serious medical conditions, it’s more appropriate for them to take place in hospitals or surgical centers.
The abortion care providers can appeal the decision to the Indiana Supreme Court.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.