Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced on April 29 that he will sign into law the most significant pro-life legislation in Indiana since 1973. Among the many facets of House Enrolled Act 1210 are provisions to:
* end all state-directed funding to businesses that do abortions, including Indiana’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood. According to the Indianapolis Star, Planned Parenthood stands to lose at least $3 million in state contracts and grants as the result of its current operation of three abortion clinics in Indiana that are responsible for over 5,000 abortions annually.
*to establish a state interest in protecting pain-capable unborn children beginning at 20-weeks. It is hoped that this new provision will stem the expansion plans of notorious late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart who announced in late 2010 that he would make Indianapolis one of his bases of operation after leaving Nebraska in the wake of that state’s pain-capable legislation.
*to improve the amount and quality of informed consent information provided to women considering abortion, including requirements that women be informed of scientific evidence showing that an unborn child may feel pain, that human physical life begins at fertilization, that potential risks of abortion include infertility, infection, and hemorrhage, and more. The new law will also require that all informed consent materials be provided to women both orally and in writing, and that women must be informed of a state department of health web site containing information including photos of fetal development.
* to opt-out Indiana from most abortion coverage in state health exchanges under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and
* to streamline access to emergency care for women injured by abortion by requiring that prior to an abortion, women must be informed of the physician’s medical license number, a telephone number where the physician or the physician’s designee may be contacted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The physician or his designee must also have admitting privileges at a local hospital and must inform women of the name of the hospital where women may receive treatment if complications arise.
In addition to HEA 1210, Governor Daniels has also signed into law HEA 1474 to improve Indiana’s ability to identify potential child sexual abuse when children under the age of 14 have abortions. HEA 1474 requires that any abortion done on a girl under the age of 14 must be reported within three days of the abortion to child protective services. In addition, required reports for all abortions must also include the known or estimated age of the father.
Indiana Right to Life applauds the leadership of Senate President Pro-Tempore David Long, Speaker of the House Brian Bosma, Rep. Eric Turner, Senator Pat Miller, Senator Scott Schneider and the many, many other representatives and senators who supported HEA 1210 and HEA 1474 with overwhelming numbers in both chambers with bipartisan support.
“This was a masterful job of leadership and team work,” states Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter. “Even in a tumultuous session with a six-week walkout by Democrat members of the House, Republican leadership in the House and Senate never once gave up on steering pro-life legislation to victory.”
Chelsea Garcia is a political writer with a special interest in international relations and social issues. Events surrounding the war in Ukraine and the war in Israel are a major focus for political journalists. But as a former local reporter, she is also interested in national politics.
Chelsea Garcia studied media, communication and political science in Texas, USA, and learned the journalistic trade during an internship at a daily newspaper. In addition to her political writing, she is pursuing a master's degree in multimedia and writing at Texas.
