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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a law restricting abortions in Indiana has been distributed for a fifth conference with the justices. Now the petition has been scheduled for consideration Feb. 22.
Indiana filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court in November 2018, focusing on two provisions in House Enrolled Act 1337, which was signed into law and immediately challenged in 2016. The law, in part, prohibits abortions because of the race, sex, or genetic anomaly of the fetus and requires fetal remains to be either buried or cremated.
At the 7th Circuit, a split panel affirmed a lower court ruling holding that the abortion law was unconstitutional in Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., et al. v. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health, et al., 17-3163. The majority found the non-discrimination provisions violated Supreme Court precedent prohibiting the state from not allowing a woman to terminate her pregnancy prior to viability. Also, the fetal disposition provisions were ruled to violate substantive due process.
However, Senior Judge Daniel Manion dissented over the disposal of fetal remains. He argued the law “advances Indiana’s interests in protecting public sensibilities and recognizing the dignity and humanity of the unborn.”
Now before the Supreme Court, the petition was first distributed for conference Jan. 4 and was subsequently relisted Jan. 11 and 18, as well as Feb. 15.
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