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Indiana’s near-total abortion ban remains on hold for a small group of non-Christian women who filed a lawsuit claiming the law violates their religious beliefs that life does not necessarily begin at conception.
The trial court’s preliminary injunction against the state’s abortion law remains in effect after the Indiana Supreme Court refused to hear state officials’ appeal.
In a 3-2 decision on Tuesday, the state’s high court opted to wait for the trial court to take further action rather than weigh in now on the preliminary injunction issued by Marion Superior Judge Heather Welch on Dec. 2, 2022.
“Given the limited impact of the preliminary injunction that is the subject of the appeal, the prudent course is to let the trial court decide what final relief, if any, to grant the parties before we weigh in,” Justice Derek Molter wrote.
Also supporting the order denying transfer were Chief Justice Loretta Rush and Justice Christopher Goff. Justices Mark Massa and Geoffrey Slaughter supported resolving some issues now.
“While I can appreciate my colleagues’ wait-and-see view in the abstract, I cannot agree with their rationale for deferring consideration of this appeal today,” Slaughter wrote. “Our denial of transfer means the trial court’s ‘final answer’ will lack the benefit of our current thinking. By saying nothing, we may leave the misimpression that the injunction’s only vulnerability is its scope.”
The preliminary injunction only prohibits the state from enforcing the state’s abortion law on a particular group of women who are not currently pregnant. They include the four individual plaintiffs and members of Hoosier Jews for Choice.
They claim the state’s abortion ban violates Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And both the trial court and the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that is likely true, allowing the abortion law to temporarily remain on hold for those few women.
The case now returns to the trial court for a full airing.
The Office of the Attorney General had not comment on Tuesday’s state supreme court decision.
The case is Individual Members of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, et al. v. Anonymous Plaintiff 1, et al., 49D01-2209-PL-31056.
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