A near-total ban on abortion in Indiana is now in the hands of Governor Eric Holcomb.
Late Friday, the Indiana Senate voted 28-19 to approve Senate Bill 1, which passed the House earlier in the day. This congress will allow the United States Supreme Court to approve his Roe v. Wade in June.
“This makes Indiana one of the most anti-life states in the nation,” said Republican Evansville Rep. Wendy McNamara.
The governor has not commented on the details of SB 1, but he said it was a “pro-life” and called on lawmakers to address the issue during a special session.
“We have an opportunity to make progress to protect the sanctity of life and that is exactly what we are trying to do,” he said in a tweet after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
The bill passed the House Friday afternoon by a vote of 62 to 38. His 71 Republicans in the House were split on the issue, with nine voting against the bill. The party is divided on the issue, with some feeling the bill restricts abortion too much and others not enough.
McNamara introduced the bill in the House of Representatives. She said Friday that the bill’s goal is to better protect women and babies. Most Republicans wanted to see a stronger bill without exceptions for rape and incest, but ultimately settled on something they could pass.
“Ultimately, they’re looking at an opportunity to somehow end 99% of abortions in Indiana,” she said after the vote Friday.
No Democrats voted for the bill.
Friday’s late-night vote capped a dramatic two weeks at the Indiana State Capitol, culminating in a long 13-hour debate on the controversial bill.
When the House’s soft-spoken pastor headed the floor with calls to open the final day of the special legislative session — convened to pass economic relief — the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs in late June. After Agreeing to Ban Abortion – Abortion rights protesters nearly drowned out her appeal to God with chants of “ban our bodies.”
The crowd of protesters at the State Capitol had dwindled considerably since the abortion debate began last week. A dozen people, including several opposition activists, were scattered across the bleachers.
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They were all disappointed by the bill passed Friday banning abortion except in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal defects and when the life of a pregnant person is in danger. There is a possibility
Polls consistently show that a majority of Hoosiers support at least some degree of access to abortion.
Anti-abortion groups have consistently opposed SB 1 because abortion cases remain rare. Indiana Right to Life said last week, “He didn’t wait 50 years for a complete Roe-Wade reversal.”
On Thursday night, a majority of House Republicans sought to remove exceptions to the abortion ban for cases of rape and incest. The effort failed, as it did in the Senate last week.
Rep. John Jacob of Indianapolis, Republican, was one of the most extreme anti-abortion opponents in the House, supporting a failed attempt to transform the bill into a total abortion ban without exception. On the floor on Friday, Jacob said he would vote against SB 1. Jacob lost the Republican primary in May.
more:How Every Congressman Vote For Rape, Incest Waivers In Indiana’s Abortion Law
Jacob’s comments infuriated at least one fellow lawmaker.
Rep. Lenny Puck (D-Ind.) said he had an abortion in 1990 at Fort Hood in central Texas while serving in the Army. Puck is married and already she is the mother of two children. She has to choose between having another child or continuing her military career, she said.
“After everything I’ve been through in my life… it took me a while before I went to the State Capitol and my co-workers called me a murderer,” Puck said aloud. Sir, I am not a murderer, and my sisters are not murderers, we are for choice, that is who we are.
“We believe we can control our bodies.”
It wasn’t just the amendments to make the bill tougher that were rejected. Lawmakers also rejected an amendment that would allow abortions for rape or incest until her 20 weeks after conception, as opposed to the current bill’s 10 weeks. Nine Republicans joined his 29 Democrats in the House and voted for the expansion.
The struggle for the Republican Party may be best described by Rep. Anne Vermillion, R-Marion, whose weeks challenged her beliefs.
During lengthy debates, it is not uncommon for lawmakers to hang around and chat outside the chamber. But Vermillion’s speech seemed to win the hearts of her colleagues. Some delegates sat in their seats and wiped their tears, while some cried openly in their sleeves.
Suppressing her emotions, Vermillion finds it difficult to align the “pro-life” platform of her party and religion (the tenets at the heart of her identity) with her own “pro-woman, pro-choice” sentiment. It’s a feeling that three-quarters of her male colleagues don’t understand, she said.
“I’ve changed a lot in the last two weeks,” said Vermillion. “I have manipulated my ideology in ways I never imagined.”
She said that despite her strong Christian faith, religious ideology had no place in the legislative process. She is also a “pro-women, pro-choice Republican,” and said she couldn’t support the bill’s zero-week abortion ban. Told.
Democrats have derided the bill as cruel, dangerous and resulting in “forced pregnancies.”
“Government should not be making decisions about women’s health,” said Rep. Robin Shackleford of the Indianapolis Democratic Party. “The decision to have an abortion is a very personal one and should be left to the woman and her doctor.”
Last week, the Indianapolis business community joined a long list of organizations including all major medical associations to vote against the law, fearing the economic impact such a ban would have on the state. Already, one major event said it was “deeply troubled” by the proposal. Gen Con president David Hoppe said Wednesday that if the state passes SB 1, “it will make it more difficult for us to keep Indiana as our long-term home state.”
Visit Indy said conventions and major trade fairs are reaching out to “clarify what’s going on with the bill and how it’s working.”
The House has made several changes to the bill initiated by the Senate, including:
- Terminates accreditation of abortion clinics and requires medical and surgical abortion procedures to be performed in hospitals or hospital-owned ambulatory surgery centers.
- Eliminate new criminal penalties for doctors performing abortions.
- Repeals provisions that gave the Attorney General the power to prosecute abortions and other crimes in counties where prosecutors have refused to prosecute. Instead, the House added the creation of a special commission to investigate cases of prosecutors’ “total refusal” to enforce certain laws.
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Last week, the Senate narrowly passed the bill. Several senators said they voted yes on the bill only to advance it through the legislative process.
Arguably, the House has widened the exception — albeit in stages. The Senate has created an exception for abortion when a pregnant person’s life is in danger. The House amended to include “permanent disability” to physical health in addition to the life of a pregnant person. The House also removed language backed by senators requiring rape and incest victims to obtain notarized affidavits outlining the reason for the abortion.
The Senate gave 12 weeks to girls under the age of 15 and only eight weeks to women and girls over the age of 16. The House version gives all rape and incest victims 10 weeks of her reprieve.
Late Friday night, Senator Sue Glick (R-LaGrange) said she had no problem with these changes and urged her colleagues in the House to agree with the House version.
Indianapolis Republican Senator Michael Young voted against the Senate version of the bill because he didn’t think it was strong enough, but said the bill backed by the House was worse. He urged his colleagues to vote against consent and continue working on the bill.
After a vote near 10 p.m., the abortion bill is now going to the governor. If Holcomb signs the law he will enter into force on September 15th.
If he refuses, the lawmakers can overrule him with a simple majority in each house.
Call IndyStar Education Reporter Arika Herron at 317-201-5620 or email Arika.Herron@indystar.com. Follow her on her Twitter. @alika heron.
