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The U.S. District Court for the Southern District Court of Indiana ruled Wednesday that a 2017 state law prohibiting health care providers from providing certain information about abortion to minors violates the First Amendment.
The state law has been permanently enjoined by the federal court.
The law prevents health care professionals from providing a pregnant, unemancipated minor with information where they can obtain an abortion in another state where parental consent is not required.
“Thus, we hold that, while the law here may in certain instances function as a regulation only of conduct, the aid-or-assist statute as applied to Plaintiff imposes a direct burden on speech because ‘the conduct triggering coverage under the statute consists of communicating a message’ and nothing further,” Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker wrote.
Barker granted summary judgment in the case that was initially filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in 2017.
“The State has also failed to show how its interests in protecting the physical and psychological well-being of minors and the parent-child relationship are advanced by prohibiting private individuals, including medical providers, from disseminating truthful information about lawful abortion practices in other states and out-of-state healthcare providers who offer such services,” Barker wrote.
The order stated the state argued providing an abortion to a minor “potentially denies abortion providers access to essential medical information.”
“However, the dissemination of accurate information regarding a minor’s reproductive care options is several steps removed from performing an abortion without parental consent,” Barker wrote.
“Given Indiana’s near-total ban on abortions in the state, it is extremely important that medical providers and other persons retain the ability to inform patients, including minors, of their out-of-state options for receiving this vital health care. We are grateful that the Court recognized that this right is one that is protected by fundamental free-speech principles,” Gavin Rose, Senior Staff Attorney for ACLU of Indiana said in a news release.
A preliminary injunction on the statute had been in place since 2017.
“Young people deserve full access to reproductive health care, period. Politicians attempting to block critical information that prevents minors from accessing care across state lines while abortion services are almost completely banned is beyond extreme; it’s cruel and inhumane,” Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood in Indiana said in a news release. “State laws mandating parental consent are unethical and harmful to the safety and well-being of young people, specifically those subject to unsupportive and abusive situations at home. They create obstacles to timely care and force young people to incur additional costs to obtain care or forego care altogether. Planned Parenthood is grateful for any progress in removing barriers to essential care for all Hoosiers.”
Indiana Lawyer reached out to the Office of the Attorney General for comment.
Abortion was banned in Indiana in 2023, with few exceptions. Senate Enrolled Act 1 bans abortion in Indiana except in limited cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly, or to protect the life or health of the mother.
The case is Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky Inc. v. Commissioner, Indiana State Department of Health, et al., 1:17-cv-01636.
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