If you care about the right to choose ...
Jan. 6th, 2006 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spirithorse21Like every morning, I was reading the Indianapolis Star, and one particular head line caught my eye and held my attention. For anyone living in Indiana, you should read this article. For the rest of you, I'd just be aware that the tide continues to change, sweeping individual rights further out of reach.
Lawmaker's goal: Overturn Roe v. Wade
Bill would make abortion illegal in Indiana
By Mary Beth Schneider and Michele McNeil
"Abortion would be illegal for most women in Indiana, including victims of rape and incest, under a bill filed this week in the Indiana House.
Indiana's legislators have chipped away at abortion for decades, imposing waiting periods and other restrictions, but the measure proposed by Rep. Troy A. Woodruff, R-Vincennes, is the first direct attempt in years to outlaw most abortions."
Abortion would be illegal for most women in Indiana, including victims of rape and incest, under a bill filed this week in the Indiana House.
Indiana's legislators have chipped away at abortion for decades, imposing waiting periods and other restrictions, but the measure proposed by Rep. Troy A. Woodruff, R-Vincennes, is the first direct attempt in years to outlaw most abortions.
The only exception allowed under House Bill 1096 would be for women whose health or life would be permanently impaired if a pregnancy continued. The bill would define life as beginning at conception and make it a felony to perform all other abortions. Anyone convicted would face up to eight years in prison.
Woodruff said he expected the bill to easily pass the House. But Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, R-Columbus, and Gov. Mitch Daniels questioned the prospects of the proposal.
In Indiana, 11,458 abortions were performed in 2003, the most recent year for which the Indiana State Department of Health has data. That's down from 12,109 in 1999.
Nationally, the number of abortions has dropped, too. In 2002, women had 1.29 million abortions, down from 1.36 million in 1996, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group with offices in New York and Washington that researches reproductive health.
Woodruff said the time is right for Indiana to confront this issue.
"It's something I've prayed about, and it's weighed on my heart," said Woodruff, who also is an aide to U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind.
"It's an emotional issue," Woodruff acknowledged, but he added that he thought most Hoosiers support a ban.
An Indiana law banning most abortions most likely would be challenged in the courts and could end up as a test case before the U.S. Supreme Court to possibly overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.
Woodruff said the issue should have been left up to the states, and he's hoping a newly constituted Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts and with the possible addition of Samuel Alito, will decide the abortion issue differently than the 1973 court did.
But Garton asks, "Why would someone want to deliberately run up court costs?" He's also troubled that the bill has no exception for rape and incest.
Planed Parenthood President and CEO Betty Cockrum said that if lawmakers want to reduce the need for abortions, they should be supporting family planning groups.
"That's how they need to spend their time and energy, and not on passing unconstitutional laws," Cockrum said.
Daniels said he opposed abortion rights but questioned whether Indiana should devote time and money to overturning Roe.
"My sense is it would have a very limited prospect of ultimate success," he said. "Ultimately, for this to change, first the heart of the country -- and maybe ultimately the view the courts take of states' rights to place some limits on abortion -- would have to evolve."
Call Star reporter Mary Beth Schneider at (317) 444-2772.
Star reporter Michele McNeil contributed to this story.
Lawmaker's goal: Overturn Roe v. Wade
Bill would make abortion illegal in Indiana
By Mary Beth Schneider and Michele McNeil
"Abortion would be illegal for most women in Indiana, including victims of rape and incest, under a bill filed this week in the Indiana House.
Indiana's legislators have chipped away at abortion for decades, imposing waiting periods and other restrictions, but the measure proposed by Rep. Troy A. Woodruff, R-Vincennes, is the first direct attempt in years to outlaw most abortions."
Abortion would be illegal for most women in Indiana, including victims of rape and incest, under a bill filed this week in the Indiana House.
Indiana's legislators have chipped away at abortion for decades, imposing waiting periods and other restrictions, but the measure proposed by Rep. Troy A. Woodruff, R-Vincennes, is the first direct attempt in years to outlaw most abortions.
The only exception allowed under House Bill 1096 would be for women whose health or life would be permanently impaired if a pregnancy continued. The bill would define life as beginning at conception and make it a felony to perform all other abortions. Anyone convicted would face up to eight years in prison.
Woodruff said he expected the bill to easily pass the House. But Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, R-Columbus, and Gov. Mitch Daniels questioned the prospects of the proposal.
In Indiana, 11,458 abortions were performed in 2003, the most recent year for which the Indiana State Department of Health has data. That's down from 12,109 in 1999.
Nationally, the number of abortions has dropped, too. In 2002, women had 1.29 million abortions, down from 1.36 million in 1996, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group with offices in New York and Washington that researches reproductive health.
Woodruff said the time is right for Indiana to confront this issue.
"It's something I've prayed about, and it's weighed on my heart," said Woodruff, who also is an aide to U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind.
"It's an emotional issue," Woodruff acknowledged, but he added that he thought most Hoosiers support a ban.
An Indiana law banning most abortions most likely would be challenged in the courts and could end up as a test case before the U.S. Supreme Court to possibly overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide.
Woodruff said the issue should have been left up to the states, and he's hoping a newly constituted Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Roberts and with the possible addition of Samuel Alito, will decide the abortion issue differently than the 1973 court did.
But Garton asks, "Why would someone want to deliberately run up court costs?" He's also troubled that the bill has no exception for rape and incest.
Planed Parenthood President and CEO Betty Cockrum said that if lawmakers want to reduce the need for abortions, they should be supporting family planning groups.
"That's how they need to spend their time and energy, and not on passing unconstitutional laws," Cockrum said.
Daniels said he opposed abortion rights but questioned whether Indiana should devote time and money to overturning Roe.
"My sense is it would have a very limited prospect of ultimate success," he said. "Ultimately, for this to change, first the heart of the country -- and maybe ultimately the view the courts take of states' rights to place some limits on abortion -- would have to evolve."
Call Star reporter Mary Beth Schneider at (317) 444-2772.
Star reporter Michele McNeil contributed to this story.
