INDIANAPOLIS (LifeSiteNews) — New legislation in Indiana would make it a punishable offense to possess abortion drugs and to send the deadly pills into the state.
Sen. Michael Young’s legislation also “(p)rohibits a nonprofit organization in Indiana from providing or offering to provide financial assistance to pay for, offset the cost of, or reimburse the cost of an abortion inducing drug.”
Sen. Young has a separate bill to prohibit political entities from assisting women in killing their baby.
An initial offense would be a misdemeanor, but subsequent offenses would be punishable as a Level 6 felony. These felonies can carry a prison term of up to 30 months, according to a fiscal analysis by the state.
Insurance providers also would be prohibited from covering abortion drugs in their plans.
Women could still obtain the abortion drugs to kill their baby in cases of rape or incest, provided they signed an affidavit.
Pro-lifers, however, affirm that the circumstances of conception do not determine the value of a human life and its worthiness of protection.
Indiana Right to Life is “reviewing all legislation being introduced to address the illegal mailing of abortion drugs into Indiana with a focus on how it can best be stopped.”
“Additional bills are expected and we will wait until all are on the table and fully reviewed before communicating our response to legislators,” CEO Mike Fichter told LifeSiteNews via an emailed statement.
Abortion in Indiana is largely prohibited, although there are some exceptions for rape, incest, and so-called “health” reasons.
The “health” exception specifically excludes the broad “psychological or emotional” carveout. “A medical condition may not be determined to exist based on a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct that she intends to result in her death or in physical harm.”
Direct abortion is never medically necessary, however, as medical experts have attested.
Babies can be aborted up to 10 weeks in Indiana if conceived in rape or incest as well as for alleged “substantial and irreversible physical impairment” of the mother’s health, according to the legislation. The law also allows for the killing of preborn babies if the baby allegedly “suffers from an irremediable medical condition that is incompatible with sustained life outside the womb up to 20 weeks.”
The law also bans abortion facilities, leaving only hospitals to kill unborn babies.
Reported abortions dropped 98% in the first year after the state’s law fully took effect. However, President Joe Biden’s loosening of regulations on abortion drugs have allowed them to flood the country with minimal restrictions, so the true number of abortions remains in question.
President-elect Donald Trump has signaled he does not intend to protect women and preborn babies from the abortion drugs and will not enforce a long-standing federal ban on mailing the dangerous pills across the country.
The effect abortion drug availability has on undermining bans has been challenged by Professor Michael New, a well-respected social scientist at the Catholic University of America.
This bill could further protect women and babies in Indiana by making it harder for abortion drugs to flood the state. Louisiana has a similar law that makes abortion drugs a controlled substance.
Indiana lawmakers have proposed other legislation to protect women and preborn babies. Senate Bill 245, for example, would make it a felony to trick a woman into using an abortion drug.
Sen. Young’s bill, and other proposed laws against abortion, would allow the attorney general to directly prosecute violators of the law, prohibiting rogue prosecutors from ignoring commonsense protections for human life.