The Quickie: “The Fight Isn’t Over In Indiana”: Hoosiers Fight Back Against Indiana’s Abortion Ban

Welcome to “The Quickie” — Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s daily tipsheet on the top health care & reproductive rights stories of the day. You can read “The Quickie'' online here.

In today’s Quickie: Abortion advocates fight back on Indiana’s ban, abortion rights ballot initiatives in 2024, and lies the anti-abortion Republican House majority might tell.

“THE FIGHT ISN’T OVER IN INDIANA”: HOOSIERS FIGHT BACK AGAINST INDIANA’S ABORTION BAN: Yesterday, abortion providers and a pregnancy resource center in Indiana sought a preliminary injunction to expand the narrow exception criteria under Indiana’s abortion ban, which outlaws the procedure even in cases presenting a serious health risk and threatens providers with criminal and licensure penalties for providing care in these circumstances. The ban went into effect in August following the Indiana Supreme Court’s ruling vacating a previously issued preliminary injunction and holding that the Indiana Constitution includes a right to an abortion that is necessary to protect a patient from a serious health risk. .

In the motion filed plaintiffs seek to expand the medical exception to the law and block its requirement that any abortions that take place under its limited exceptions be provided at a hospital. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai‘i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, ACLU of Indiana, All-Options, the Lawyering Project, and Women’s Med, released the following statement:

“The fight isn’t over in Indiana. Today, we are asking the trial court to protect Hoosiers’ health and limit the scope of the state’s unconstitutional abortion ban. We are hopeful that the court will grant our request, ensuring that Hoosiers in the most vulnerable circumstances can still access care in their state. While this would be a critical step forward for reproductive freedom, it would not restore access for most people seeking abortion in Indiana. We will continue working to support Hoosiers in getting abortions — and we will continue to fight until access is fully restored.” 

Read more from the Indy Star.

 

ABORTION-RIGHTS BALLOT INITIATIVE COMING TO A STATE NEAR YOU: With the success of Ohio’s Issue 1, abortion rights are on a winning streak. When asked to vote directly on abortion, voters have chosen reproductive freedom in every single election since the Dobbs decision. As we turn to 2024, several states have launched efforts or are in the planning stages of launching ballot initiative campaigns focused on expanding abortion access. One of those states is Florida, where a 15-week ban is currently in effect, with a six-week ban on the horizon as we await a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court. Laura Goodhue, the executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, told CNN, “This was a big win for Ohio, but it also just really buoys Florida’s attempt to get this on the ballot.” Already, more than half the total number of signatures required have been verified. Other states to watch include Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, where advocates are actively gathering signatures to qualify, as well as New York and Maryland where legislatively-referred measures are already set to appear on the ballot. 

Read more at CNN. 

 

THE ABORTION LIE DETECTOR: IF HOUSE REPUBLICANS SAY THESE THINGS, THEY’RE LYING: After all the drama with the Speaker vote, the House still needs to pass a budget – and the FY24 budget proposed by the anti-abortion Republican majority has been chock-full of attacks on sexual and reproductive health care. As the deadline to pass annual funding bills before a government shutdown looms, some politicians are coming to terms with the resounding rebuke of their agenda by voters in Tuesday’s election and are trying to (rhetorically) distance themselves from the decades-long effort to control our bodies. 

Not so fast. They’ve said what they’ve said, and they’ve done what they’ve done. When talks resume next week on these dangerous, partisan funding bills, we must be prepared for the lies these anti-abortion politicians will tell to attempt to cover their records.

That’s why the Planned Parenthood Action Fund pulled the receipts and created The Abortion Rights Lie Detector. If House Republicans say things like “we support birth control,” “we don’t want to restrict medication abortion,” or “we support health care for our communities”...THEY. ARE. LYING. 

Read the truth and see the comprehensive list here.