A federal judge on Friday blocked a core provision of Indiana abortion legislation that Vice President Mike Pence lauded when he signed it into law “with a prayer” last year, the Associated Press reported Monday.
The omnibus bill was described by reproductive rights advocates as “one of the worst anti-abortion laws in the country.”
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As Common Dreams reported when the law, HEA 1337, was passed in March 2016, it contained a multitude of provisions designed to prevent women from accessing abortions. It forced women to have an ultrasound at least 18 hours before an abortion; banned abortions when a fetal anomaly was detected; mandated the burial and cremation of miscarried or aborted remains; restricted fetal tissue donation; and required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital or to have an agreement with a doctor who does.
“This is one of the most extreme anti-abortion measures in the country and only further penalizes Indiana women and their doctors for accessing constitutionally protected abortion care,” charged Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, in response to the law’s passage.
But on Friday, women’s rights advocates found reason to hope: U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt’s ruling (pdf) found that the requirement that women have an ultrasound is likely unconstitutional, and creates an “undue burden” particularly for low-income women.
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