Current Events > Indiana adopts near-total abortion ban as governor signs SB 1 into law

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Indiana's near-total ban on abortion will take effect Sept. 15.

Gov. Eric Holcomb announced late Friday that he had signed Senate Bill 1 within an hour of its passage, capping a marathon day that saw both chambers pass the bill outlawing abortion except for several narrow exceptions.

Following the overturning of Roe, I stated clearly that I would be willing to support legislation that made progress in protecting life," Holcomb said. "In my view, SEA 1 accomplishes this goal following its passage in both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly with a solid majority of support."

Late Friday, the Indiana Senate voted 28-19 to accept Senate Bill 1 as passed by the House earlier in the day making the legislature the first in the nation pass such restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door by overturning Roe v. Wade.

"It makes Indiana one of the most pro-life states in the nation," said Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Evansville.

The bill passed the House, 62-38, on Friday afternoon. The chambers 71 Republicans split on the issue, with nine voting against the bill. The party has been divided on the issue, with some feeling the bill goes too far in restricting abortion and others feeling it doesnt go far enough.

McNamara carried the bill in the House. She said Friday the goal of the bill was to strengthen protections for women and babies. The majority of Republicans wanted to see a stronger bill, without exceptions for rape and incest, but most ultimately settled for what they could get passed.

"Ultimately, they're looking at the opportunity for 99% of abortions in the state of Indiana to be eliminated one way or the other," she said after the vote Friday.

No Democrats voted in favor of the bill.

As the Houses soft-spoken chaplain led the chamber in an invocation to open the final day of the two-week special legislative session Friday called to pass financial relief but coopted to ban abortion after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in late June a small but vocal contingent of abortion-rights protesters nearly drowned out her appeal to God with chants of bans off our bodies.

The crowd of protesters flocking to the Statehouse had shrunk considerably since the start of the abortion debate last week. A dozen or so people holding signs watched the proceedings from large windows at the back of the House chamber and another dozen or so, including several anti-abortion activists, dotted the viewing gallery.

Polling has consistently demonstrated that a majority of Hoosiers support at least some degree of abortion access.

Anti-abortion groups have opposed SB 1 because of the few cases in which it would still allow abortion. Last week, Indiana Right to Life said it "did not wait 50 years for the full reversal of Roe vs. Wade for this."

On Thursday night, the majority of Republicans in the House attempted to remove exceptions to the abortion ban in cases of rape and incest. That effort failed, as it did last week in the Senate.

Rep. John Jacob, R-Indianapolis, is one of the chamber's most extreme abortion opponents and supported a failed effort to turn the bill into a total abortion ban, without exceptions. On the floor Friday, Jacob said he would vote against SB 1 because "it is a weak, pathetic bill that still allows babies to be murdered." Jacob lost his Republican primary race in May.

Rep. Renee Pack, D-Indianapolis, told the chamber she had an abortion in 1990 at Fort Hood, in central Texas, while serving in the Army. Pack was married and already the mother of two children.

She said she had to choose between having another child, or continuing her military career.

"After everything I've been through in my life ... it took me getting to the Statehouse for my colleagues to call me a murderer," Pack said, raising her voice. "Sir, I am not a murderer. And my sisters are not murderers, either. We are pro-choice. That is what we are.

"We believe we have command over our own bodies."

It wasn't just amendments to make the bill more strict that were voted down. Lawmakers also rejected an amendment that would have allowed abortions due to rape or incest up until 20 weeks postfertilization instead of 10, as is currently in the bill. Nine Republicans joined the chamber's 29 Democrats to vote in favor of that expansion one of many illustrations of the divide that has fractured the majority caucus over the last two weeks and made passage of the bill a delicate needle to thread.

The struggle for the Republican Party may have best been described by Rep. Ann Vermilion, R-Marion, who reminded the chamber of her GOP bona fides limited government, fiscal conservative, Friday night lights, Sunday church before admitting how the last two weeks have challenged her beliefs.

Its not uncommon, during lengthy debates, for lawmakers to mill about and chat outside the chamber. Vermilions speech, though, seemed to grip her colleagues. Several representatives wiped away tears as they sat in their seats and a few people openly wept in the wings.

Choking back emotion, Vermilion said she has struggled to square the pro-life platform of her party and religion tenets so central to her identity with her own pro-woman, pro-choice feelings.

Feelings, she said, that three-quarters of her colleagues who are male cant understand.

The last two weeks have changed me profoundly, Vermilion said. I have moved in my ideology in ways I never imagined.

She said that, despite her strong Christian faith, religious ideology has no place in the legislative process. She said she supports protecting life when a fetus could be viable outside the womb but is also a "pro-woman, pro-choice Republican" and can't support the zero-week abortion ban in the bill. She said she thinks there are many Republican women who hold the same middle ground.

Democrats have derided the bill as one that's cruel, dangerous and will result in "forced pregnancy."

"The government should not be making health decisions for women," said Rep. Robin Shackleford, D-Indianapolis. "The decision to have an abortion is extremely personal, one that should be left up to a woman and her doctor."

In the past week, the Indianapolis business community joined a long list of organizations including every major medical association in opposing the legislation over fears of the economic impact such a ban will have on the state. Already, one major event has said it is "deeply troubled" by the proposal. Gen Con's president, David Hoppe, said Wednesday that if the state passed SB 1, it will "make it more difficult for us to remain committed to Indiana as our long-term annual home."

Visit Indy said that conventions and major trade shows have reached out for "clarification on what's happening with the bill and how it's moving."

The House made several changes to the bill that started in the Senate, including:

Terminating licensing for abortion clinics, requiring both medical and surgical abortion procedures be performed in hospital or outpatient surgery centers owned by hospitals.
Removing new criminal penalties for doctors who perform abortions.
Nixing a provision that granted the attorney general the ability to prosecute abortion and other crimes in counties in which a prosecutor refuses to prosecute. Instead, the House added creation of a task force to study instances where prosecutors make "a blanket refusal" to enforce certain laws.

Arguably, though, the House broadened the exceptions if by degrees. The Senate had written an exception for abortion in cases in which the life of the pregnant person was in danger. The House amended that to include "permanent impairment" to the physical health, in addition to the pregnant person's life. The House also removed language supported by senators to require victims of rape and incest to get a notarized affidavit stating the reason for their abortion.

The Senate would have given girls 15 years old and younger 12 weeks to obtain an abortion, while allowing just eight weeks for women and girls who are at least 16 years old. The House version allows 10 weeks for all rape and incest victims.

Late Friday evening, Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, said she was OK with those changes and urged her colleagues in the chamber to concur on the House version.

Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, who voted no on the Senate version of the bill because he didn't think it was strong enough, said the bill sent back by the House was worse. He urged his colleagues to vote against the concurrence and continue to work on the bill.

Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, was one of several senators who changed their vote from last week to this one. When he voted in favor of the bill the first time the Senate considered it, he said he did so to keep it moving but had concerns about the impact on developmentally delayed individuals like his 21-year-old daughter.

If she lost her favorite stuffed animal, she'd be inconsolable," he said on the Senate floor late Friday night, through tears. "Imagine making her carry a child."

Bohacek voted against SB 1.

Several lawmakers voted for the bill despite saying it wasn't perfect. Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, said she knew some would be disappointed that the bill doesn't prevent every abortion. Still, Brown said it was a good place to start.

"I know what we're doing today is just the beginning," Brown said. "Our actions today will save so many lives."

As the Houses soft-spoken chaplain

I hate these people. Hiding behind Christianity to perpetuate cruelty

As with all of these laws, women will die because of them. And quite frankly, that's the point.

It's a shame to see evil triumph over the good of abortion

They care more about fetuses than already existing women who will die over this

I'd like to think, that apart from being a complete ass on this board for like fifteen years, my position on abortion has been pretty consistent.

You are absolutely ending a human life.
It is absolutely your right to do so, when it's existing in your own uterus.

It's the "both" position, but you are the only one who owns your own body, even when another body is inside it.

I don't even know why lawmakers are allowed to cite Christianity.

Post 5 explains how Roe can be burned into the constitution, instead of merely suggested.

All of this that follows of ignores the mother's complete and total right to bodily autonomy for the sake of argument. It's fucking disingenuous to claim that a clump of tissue is a life.

Something that isn't alive cannot be killed. In the same way you cannot "turn off" something that isn't "on" Brain death is the universal end end of life. Which means a life (and thus death) cannot begin until at least when fetal brain activity begins to exhibit regular and sustained activity, and this occurs consistently around week 25. The two of the most essential structures for consciousness, the thalamocortical and corticothalamic pathways that transmit sensorimotor information don't begin to form until week 28.

All of this that follows of ignores the mother's complete and total right to bodily autonomy for the sake of argument. It's fucking disingenuous to claim that a clump of tissue is a life.

At this point, being a Christian Republican should carry a charge of Crimes Against Humanity.

Republicans and especially CHRISTIAN REPUBLICANS absolutely do not care about the living.

I wish you assholes would stop acting like you give the tiniest shit about bodily autonomy.

I wish you assholes would stop acting like you give the tiniest shit about bodily autonomy.

I wish you assholes would stop acting like you give the tiniest shit about bodily autonomy.

I wish you assholes would stop acting like you give the tiniest shit about bodily autonomy.