INDIANAPOLIS — A federal lawsuit claims that the Indiana General Assembly's changes to state law defining abortion clinics is unconstitutional.
Amendments to legislation enacted earlier this year single out one center in Lafayette, Ind., for a host of unnecessary new regulations, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday against the Indiana State Department of Health and the Tippecanoe County prosecutor by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky.
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It is at least the fourth lawsuit filed in the past decade in the contentious fight in this state over abortion rights and the services that Planned Parenthood provides.
The score so far: Planned Parenthood 2, Indiana 1. The state's victory came in 2003, after an eight-year legal battle, when women seeking abortions were required to make two trips at least 18 hours apart to Planned Parenthood and hear state-mandated information about the abortion process and alternatives.
Senate Enrolled Act 371, which Gov. Mike Pence signed into law in May, changed the definition of "abortion clinic" to include facilities that provide only the abortion pill mifepristone, a nonsurgical procedure, to terminate a pregnancy. The legislation also requires clinics that offer nonsurgical abortions to meet the same physical requirements as clinics that provide surgical procedures — including separate procedure, recovery and scrub rooms.
The law affects only the Lafayette center. It does not apply to the offices of private physicians providing the same procedures.
“This law is clearly part of a coordinated national effort to end access to safe, legal abortion by trying to shut down Planned Parenthood health care centers, which also provide pap tests, breast and testicular exams, birth control and STD testing and treatment.”
— Betty Cockrum, Planned Parenthood
"This law is clearly part of a coordinated national effort to end access to safe, legal abortion by trying to shut down Planned Parenthood health care centers, which also provide pap tests, breast and testicular exams, birth control and STD testing and treatment," Betty Cockrum, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK), said in a statement.
Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, said the law specifically targeting Planned Parenthood's health care center in Lafayette is "not reasonably related to any legitimate purpose."
"The laws irrationally and invidiously discriminate against PPINK and pose a significant and unnecessary burden that violates the Constitution's guarantees of privacy, due process and equal protection," he said.
Cindy Gerlach of Lafayette supports the ACLU challenge.
"When you consider that the doctor offices that perform these same procedures are excluded from the law, it is clear the law is about punishing Planned Parenthood and about chipping away at a woman's right to choose," she said.
"These laws are not about keeping women healthy," Gerlach said. "If that were the case, these same people would be supporting more research into contraception, more access to contraception and more comprehensive sexual education in our schools."
The Lafayette Planned Parenthood office was a concern because a physician is on site only once a week, said Connie Basham of Tippecanoe County Right to Life.
"Most of those RU-486 pills are given under orders through a telelink, and the physician can be somewhere else in the state," she said. "This is the concern, giving the medication when the manufacturer recommends administering this medication only under the direct supervision of a licensed physician. And the manufacturer states the recipient needs to return to be examined by the physician within three days."
“It's clear that Planned Parenthood sees any amount of common sense oversight as too much oversight.”
— Mike Finchter, Indiana Right to Life
Republican Sen. Travis Holdman of Markle, Ind., the bill's author, declined to comment Thursday on the legal challenge, which the Indiana attorney general will defend.
President Mike Finchter of Indiana Right to Life said lawmakers were within legal bounds when passing the legislation.
"If Planned Parenthood's lawsuit advances to any court, we believe any judge will recognize the authority of the state to put this law into effect," Finchter said in a statement.
"It's clear that Planned Parenthood sees any amount of common sense oversight as too much oversight," Finchter said. "If Planned Parenthood truly cared about women's health, they would desire all abortion facilities, even facilities they do not operate, to meet a basic standard."
Cockrum, the Indiana Planned Parenthood chief executive, disagreed with Finchter's take on the law.
"The legislature continues to insert itself in the doctor-patient relationship here in Indiana, and that usually is with the misguided opinion they will reduce abortion," she said.
"What Planned Parenthood does all day, every day is reduce the incidence of abortion because we help women plan their pregnancies. Half of unintended pregnancies end in abortion in this country. So wisdom would suggest that educating and providing access to birth control so that pregnancies are planned is the way to reduce the incidences of abortion, which is an objective that we all share."
Legal experts and political observers say the back-and-forth is not surprising, given the strong feelings on both sides of the abortion debate. In Indiana, where Republicans control both houses in the General Assembly and governor's office, they say the fighting is likely to continue.
David Orentlicher, the Samuel R. Rosen Professor of Law and co-director of the Hall Center for Law and Health at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, said abortion is a highly divisive issue and the controversy extends to feelings about what regulations are appropriate.
"So it's not surprising that we are seeing these lawsuits," he said.
Contributing: Chris Morisse Vizza, (Lafayette, Ind.) Journal and Courier. Tim Evans also reports for The Indianapolis Star.
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