Indiana has become this Friday the first of the 50 US states to pass a law to restrict access to abortion after the Supreme Court reversed the 1973 ruling, known as Roe vs. Wade, which protected that right at the federal level and left regulation in the hands of the States. After the sentence of last June, numerous States have prohibited abortion, but until now all had done so by applying previously approved regulations.
Indiana Republicans had been working on the bill for weeks, but they were divided: a majority wanted to ban abortion outright while a minority believed some exceptions should be made for rape or incest. Finally, exceptions have been included in cases of rape, incest and also in cases where the fetus has malformations that make its survival impossible or the life of the mother is in danger. Until now, abortion was legal in Indiana up to 22 weeks gestation.
Indiana’s solid Republican majority in Congress has made it possible to pass the law despite that internal division. In the state House of Representatives, nine of 71 Republicans have voted against the law. All in all, the norm has been approved by 62 votes to 38, with the rejection en bloc by the Democrats. In the state Senate, there have been 28 votes for and 19 against. The law has been signed shortly after its approval by the governor of the State, Eric Holcomb, and will enter into force on September 15.
“These actions followed long days of hearings filled with personal and sobering testimony from citizens and elected representatives on this emotional and complex issue. Ultimately, those voices shaped the final content of the legislation and its carefully negotiated exceptions to address some of the unthinkable circumstances that a woman or unborn child may face.” Holcomb stated in a statement.
The new legislation marks that abortions can only be performed in hospitals, therefore, causing abortion clinics to lose their license, as reported by the media abcnews.
At the end of June, the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, reversed Roe vs. Wade thereby ending federal protection for abortion and giving States permission to set their own rules. Indiana’s decision comes after voters in Kansas this week voted overwhelmingly in a referendum in favor of keeping the right to abortion intact as it is currently regulated in the State Constitution, in what was a resounding defeat for voters. conservatives. Nine other states in the US have laws that almost totally ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, dedicated to reproductive rights research.
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