INDIANAPOLIS — The abortion ban as it stands now will not be the abortion ban that is passed by state lawmakers, says State Rep. Jim Lucas.
The Republican from Seymour said with lots of discussions still to be had on the ban there will be many more changes to the bill. It started out as a simple ban on abortion in Indiana except in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother.
“You have to start out somewhere and that happens to be where the Senate wanted to start out,” Lucas told Hammer and Nigel on 93 WIBC. “All of the Republicans have run on their pro-life stances, so were are going to find out how pro-life many of us are.”
You are getting a glimpse of that already with many Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the ban as it stands now, though they oppose it for very different reasons. Democratic lawmakers have been united against it due to a desire for abortion to be legal. Many ardent pro-life Republicans oppose it because they feel the ban doesn’t go far enough (i.e. no exceptions whatsoever).
Then you have those like Lucas who reside in the middle.
“I like the exceptions of life of the mother, rape, and incest,” he said. “I campaigned on that for ten years and that’s where I am, but I’m still listening and if someone gives testimony and changes my mind I’m blessfull but that’s my starting point.”
Lucas would like to see the state hand out birth control for free as part of the bill. His examples would put that with free COVID shots and Narcan.
Overall, he said civility between lawmakers in the discussions is winning out as they continue to hash out and fine-tune the bill. That’s despite many protests at the State Capitol building since the session began which have included both pro-life and pro-choice demonstrators.
The abortion ban is out of committee now in the Senate and will be considered by the full Senate in the coming days.
