Indiana’s near-total ban is the first enacted since Roe v. Wade was overturned
Saturday’s White House statement described a ban on nearly all Indiana abortions. “devastating,”And urged Congress not to deny abortion access nationwide.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed the ban into law on Friday, after it passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled state legislature. The law, which takes effect on September 15, outlaws all abortions except in cases of rape and incest, where the mother’s life is in danger, or if an unborn baby is diagnosed with a fatal abnormality.
Hospitals will be the only locations allowed to perform the procedures, meaning the state’s seven abortion clinics will be shut down. Physicians performing illegal abortions may lose their medical licensure.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre described the law’s passage as a “devastating step”And “another radical step by Republican legislators to take away women’s reproductive rights and freedom.”
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“Yesterday’s vote, which institutes a near-total abortion ban in Indiana, should be a signal to Americans across the country to make their voices heard,” Jean-Pierre continued. “Congress should also act immediately to pass a law restoring the protections of Roe – the only way to secure a woman’s right to choose nationally,”Elle concluded.
Congress has not passed any law allowing abortion. Instead, states have historically established their policies. That situation changed in 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Roe v. Wade that the Constitution’s right to privacy covered a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy.
Roe v. Wade, a combination of later case law allowed for abortions without parental consent. “undue burden,”This legal standard was a battleground between abortion opponents and advocates. The Supreme Court overturned that ruling in June. It returned abortion law back to the states. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion and argued Roe v. Wade was based on an “egregiously wrong”And “exceptionally weak”Interpretation of the Constitution
Indiana’s new legislation is the first post-Roe ban on abortion to be approved by a state legislature and become law. West Virginia legislators delayed passing a similar bill, while Kansas voters opted not to repeal the State Constitution’s right to prohibit abortion.
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Some 13 US states had so-called ‘trigger bans’ on their books, meaning that most abortions instantly became illegal, or a countdown was set toward illegality, the moment that Roe v. Wade was overturned. Accordingly, abortion is now banned in all cases with no exceptions in ten states, while a further two – Idaho and the above-mentioned Indiana – will soon impose similarly hardline bans. Florida banned abortion at 15 weeks after the termination of a pregnancy. Three other states also have bans on abortion after six weeks. Pro-abortion activists challenged every ban and restriction.
Jean-Pierre’s call to Congress will likely go unheeded. An attempt to codify and expand Roe v. Wade’s protections into law failed in May, and even if the Senate’s 50 Democrats were united in supporting such a bill, they would still be short of the 60-vote majority needed to overcome unanimous opposition from the upper chamber’s 50 Republicans.
President Joe Biden has said that he would support ending the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster rule solely to pass this legislation.
