On April 23, 2018 the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Indiana and Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) filed a federal lawsuit challenging a state law passed in 2018 that requires health providers to submit a report to the state when a woman who has had an abortion seeks treatment for a wide range of health conditions. Physicians who fail to submit these reports would face criminal penalties and possible jail time.
The law, which was opposed by the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians, also targets abortion clinics with inspection requirements that are not imposed on other outpatient settings or hospitals.
The lawsuit asserts that the law violates due process and equal protection by singling out abortion procedures and requiring invasive reporting that has nothing to do with protecting women’s health. The plaintiff is asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the law’s provisions are unconstitutional and to block the state from enforcing them.
Abortion care is one of the safest types of medical procedures – more than 99 percent safe according to data from the CDC and others.
On June 28, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young granted a preliminary injunction, blocking portions of the 2018 anti-abortion law. It was concluded that the statue regarding "abortion complications" reporting is unconstitutionally vague because it “fails to inform PPINK what conduct is prohibited.”
The lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the case are Ken Falk, Gavin Rose, Jan Mensz from the ACLU of Indiana, Andrew Beck from the national ACLU and Carrie Flaxman from national Planned Parenthood.
