Indiana court hearing set after abortion ban takes effect

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana judge won’t hear arguments until next week on a lawsuit seeking to block the state’s abortion ban, leaving that new law set to take effect on Thursday.

The special judge overseeing the case issued an order Monday setting a court hearing for Sept. 19, which is four days after the ban’s effective date.

Indiana’s Legislature approved the tighter abortion restrictions during a two-week special legislative session that ended Aug. 5, making it the first state to do so since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Indiana abortion clinic operators filed a lawsuit Aug. 31 in southern Indiana’s Monroe County, but two elected Democratic judges from that county declined to handle the case without stating any reasons. Judge Kelsey Hanlon, a Republican from neighboring Owen County, accepted the appointment as special judge last week. 

The Indiana ban includes exceptions allowing abortions in cases of rape and incest, before 10 weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly.

The new law also prohibits abortion clinics from providing any abortion care, leaving such services solely to hospitals or outpatient surgical centers owned by hospitals.

The state attorney general’s office hasn’t yet filed a response to the lawsuit in court, but Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a statement that “The text, history, and structure of our Constitution excludes any serious argument that abortion is a fundamental right in our state.”