Supreme Court upholds Indiana law forcing abortion providers to bury or cremate fetuses

The Supreme Court has upheld one half of an Indiana abortion law and sealed the end of the other.

On Tuesday, the court declined to hear an appeal on an earlier court case that invalidated Indiana's ban on abortions that women have for so-called "discriminatory" reasons. But the court also upheld the rest of the Indiana law mandating abortion providers bury or cremate fetal remains, creating a "compromise" that keeps abortion "off its docket for now," The Washington Post reports.

Then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence passed the law in question in 2016, banning abortions that women chose to have "because of characteristics of the fetus, including gender, race, or diagnosis of Down syndrome or other defect," NBC News writes. The 7th Circuit Court soon invalidated that provision, and the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, letting the previous court's decision stand. Still, Justice Clarence Thomas did say the court would eventually have to hear a case on what he called "eugenic abortions," the Post notes.

The circuit court also struck down part of the law requiring that fetal remains be buried or cremated like human remains rather than medical remains, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling on Tuesday. The decision comes as Alabama and a wave of other states have passed ultra-restrictive bans on abortion with the hopes of getting the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade.