Indiana’s S.B. 2 Would Provide Taxpayer Funding to Anti-Abortion Orgs 

Indianapolis, IN – While Indiana lawmakers attempt to outright ban abortion with Senate Bill 1, another egregious anti-abortion bill is flying under the radar. Senate Bill 2, what Republicans are calling “S.B. 1’s companion bill,” would take tax dollars allocated for maternal health and use them to fund fake clinics. These clinics, often called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) or “pregnancy resource centers,” are not legitimate medical providers and often do not even employ medically-trained professionals. They are not regulated as health care organizations and have no government oversight. They are known to provide medically-inaccurate information and anti-abortion propaganda, even going as far as showing fake ultrasounds to patients. 

Using taxpayer dollars to fund fake health clinics is a dangerous and irresponsible misuse of funds, and a violation of the trust that Hoosiers should be able to have in their legislators. Indiana’s S.B. 2 is part of a growing trend across the country for anti-abortion lawmakers to provide funding to anti-abortion organizations, while hiding behind misleading rhetoric about supporting pregnant people and new parents. If Indiana lawmakers wanted to support maternal health, they should only provide taxpayer funding to regulated health care organizations that employ licensed health professionals. 

The combined effects of Indiana’s S.B. 1 and S.B. 2 would be catastrophic for maternal health care in Indiana. The legislature is simultaneously making it more difficult for real physicians to provide essential health care, while providing more funding to fake clinics that provide inaccurate information with the sole goal of preventing abortion. Indiana already faces one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world. S.B. 2 will also bar any provider of maternal support services from being affiliated with any abortion clinic. This will annihilate coordination between maternal health providers and critical family planning providers. Maternal health demands access to abortion care, even with an abortion ban in place. These bills will ultimately make Indiana’s maternal and infant health outcomes significantly worse. 

Instead of giving taxpayer money away to biased, religiously-affiliated fake clinics, Indiana lawmakers should be pursuing policies that have a proven track record of reducing maternal mortality and narrowing inequities. Policies like improving coverage for doulas, counteracting implicit bias in maternal health care, paid family leave, and protective pregnancy accommodations to allow people to safely continue working and supporting their families throughout pregnancy. Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates urges all Indiana lawmakers to vote “no” on S.B. 2. 

 

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Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, Serving AK, HI, ID, IN, KY, WA (PPAA) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization educating residents and policymakers about reproductive health issues in Alaska, Hawai‘i, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and Washington. PPAA lobbies and educates to advance Planned Parenthood's mission, and engages in limited electoral activities.