STATE HOUSE–A fight vould already be brewing in the Indiana General Assembly, and they’re not in regular session until January. This week the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an abortion law by the Texas legislature that bans the procedure if a heartbeat has been detected. Some Hoosier pro-life legislators are already looking at the possibility of filing similar bills here.
“Obviously I agree with the Supreme Court. I think it’s a great ruling and I think it’s a very unique law the way Texas styled it and that’s why I’m looking into it,” said state Sen. Liz Brown, a Republican from Ft. Wayne, on this weeks All INdiana Politics, to air this Sunday on WISH TV.
About 85 to 90 percent of girls and women who seek abortions do so after six weeks of pregnancy, when a heartbeat can be detected.
“We have a very strong pro-life caucus in the Senate and the House and so I don’t anticipate there would be any problem, depending on how we can get it drafted, that there will be any problem passing it,” she said.
Brown said filing it in time for the upcoming special session wouldn’t likely happen because that session is set aside solely for redistricting, or redrawing the state’s legislative districts.
“This is a setback for every state in the union,” said state Sen. Shelli Yoder, a Democrat from Bloomington, who opposes the ruling. “What’s so dangerous about this is it sets a precedent that no longer is the state the enforcer of the law, but now we’ve deputized citizens.”
The law also provides for citizens to be able to sue providers or people who assist providers.
The ban also provides for no exception from the ban for victims of incest or rape.
“If SB 8 (the Texas law) is enacted in Indiana, what will happen is those rapists and assaulters will have more rights than those girls and those girls’ families,” she said. “We claim to be a parental rights state. But, this piece of legislation actually removes those rights and places more rights in the hands of the assulter and the rapists.”
Yoder said she is dismayed that the Republican supermajority exists in the legislature, and blems Democrats inability to block pro-life legislation on gerrymandering.
The interviews will air Sunday on WISH TV News 8.
