Indiana's near-total abortion ban takes effect as state Supreme Court denies appeal

Indiana's law banning almost all abortions will take effect immediately Monday after the state Supreme Court denied a request from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood to rehear an earlier ruling where it upheld the law and lifted an injunction blocking it.

The 4-1 ruling, which was certified Monday, means Indiana now outlaws all abortions except in very narrow circumstances.

However, abortion has been effectively banned since Aug. 1, when the law was initially set to take effect and abortion clinics across the state ceased performing the procedure.  

"Today is a dark day in Indiana’s history, as a near-total abortion ban takes effect. We have seen the horrifying impact of bans like this across the country, and the narrow exceptions included in this extreme ban will undoubtedly put Hoosiers’ lives at risk,” ACLU of Indiana executive director Jane Henegar said in a statement.

At the end of July, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood asked for a rehearing to clarify exemptions in the law related to an exemption to the life of the mother.

In a concurring opinion on her ruling, Chief Justice Loretta Rush said she believes the state's constitution "protects a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy to protect her life or to protect her from a serious health risk... under circumstances that extend beyond the current law."

Rush wrote she was "deeply concerned" about the law's impact on that right, as well as its impact on health care providers "who must determine whether to provide that care and potentially expose themselves to criminal penalties and professional sanctions."

But Rush wrote that the plaintiffs "have not properly put these concerns before us" because they asked for the original injunction blocking the entire law to remain in effect, which was previously ruled to be improper.

Under the law, abortion will be allowed when a mother's life or health is at serious risk, or if there's a lethal fetal anomaly. In those cases, the abortion must be performed in a hospital before 20 weeks gestation. 

The law also has an exception for rape or incest, before 10 weeks post-fertilization. 

In the lone dissent, Judge Christoper Goff said he would have issued a revised injunction because state lawmakers haven't clarified potential medical conditions that currently aren't allowed under the narrow exceptions, like severe psychiatric illnesses or conditions that cause serious pain, suffering, or disability.  

"No one yet knows the precise contours of the life and health protections guaranteed by the Indiana Constitution. But, for the sake of the lives and health of Hoosier women, our healthcare professionals and our justice system need to know as quickly as possible," Goff wrote. 

In a statement, state Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) applauded the decision, noting his office has defended the law "every step of the way." 

"This is great news for Hoosier life and liberty. We defeated the pro-death advocates who try to interject their views in a state that clearly voted for life," Rokita said. 

An injunction issued in a separate religious freedom challenge to the ban is continuing to play out in the Indiana Court of Appeals, though it applies only to the plaintiffs in that case.