Attorney General Ford Joins Coalition Opposing Restrictive Indiana Abortion Laws


November 9, 2021

Carson City, NV – Today, Attorney General Aaron D. Ford joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief supporting a constitutional challenge to several Indiana laws that impose burdensome restrictions on abortion providers.

The coalition filed the brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in Whole Woman’s Health Alliance v. Rokita. Plaintiffs in that case obtained an injunction enjoining the enforcement of numerous Indiana abortion laws that unduly burden access to abortion care. The defendants are now appealing from that decision. In today’s brief, the coalition argues that the district court’s ruling is consistent with Supreme Court precedent and should be upheld.

“The right to an abortion must not be burdened with laws that make it almost impossible to express,” said AG Ford. “Women’s bodily autonomy, and their right to health care, must not be infringed upon. My office will always stand up for the rights of all Americans to necessary, and safe, health care.”

Indiana’s laws impose restrictions on abortion providers that are not imposed on other health care providers, including a requirement that only physicians can perform first-trimester medication abortions; a requirement that second-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center; a requirement that abortion providers make certain mandatory disclosures in-person to their patients at least 18 hours before performing abortions; and a ban on telemedicine to prescribe abortion-related medications.

Citing testimony from a seven-day district court trial, the coalition argues that the court properly ruled that these laws create an undue burden for patients, especially low-income women. The attorneys general assert that by limiting access to abortion, Indiana’s laws force women to travel to seek care, thereby increasing costs and making it more difficult for people to obtain important health care services.

In filing the brief, AG Ford joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The brief is attached

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