After a tense week of debates over whether to include exceptions for rape and incest, Indiana state senators narrowly approved a nearly comprehensive abortion ban on Saturday during a rare weekend session, sending the bill to the House.
After over three hours of debate, the Republican-controlled Senate voted 26-20 to adopt the measure with the bare minimum of 26 votes required to move it to the House, which the Republicans also control.
Abortions would be illegal under the proposed legislation after fertilized egg implants in a uterus. A patient seeking an abortion for either reason would need to sign a notarized document attesting to the attack, with the exception of cases of rape and incest.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the precedent establishing a nationwide right to an abortion last month, Indiana is one of the first Republican-controlled states to consider stricter abortion legislation.
But on Thursday, an amendment that would have removed the rape and incest provisions from the measure failed, which caused the GOP to split.
On Saturday, ten Republican senators abstained from voting, including a few who are pro-choice.
By placing tight restrictions on women’s access to abortion in Indiana, one of them, Republican Sen. Vaneta Becker of Evansville, said that the proposal would interfere with women’s medical decisions, their lives, and their right to free will.
“Women deserve to have us protect their lives and free will. Senate Bill 1 destroys both. Shame on us for doing this,” she said, noting that only eight of Senate’s 50 members are women.
“We are considering dictating medical decisions with blinders and ignorant of the astounding, unintended consequences we are creating,” Becker warned, saying the Senate is “just making a mess.”
Sen. Mike Young, a Republican, said he voted against the bill not because he agreed with its opponents but rather because he has concerns about some aspects of the legislation that he hopes are addressed. Sen. Young’s amendment, which called for no exceptions aside from the mother’s life, previously failed.
A clause that worries Young is that a doctor may conduct an abortion if he or she feels that the life of the woman is in danger, but that the doctor is not required to tell the lady that her life is in jeopardy.
“She may never know the reasons why. I just think it’s important when a person makes the most important decision of their life they ought to know if their life is in danger, and what are the reasons why it’s in danger,” he said.
The abortion bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Sue Glick of LaGrange stated during the discussion that she doesn’t anticipate the measure passed by the Senate to be the final version the legislature adopts. “An indication of where we feel the state of Indiana is right now,” she said of the Senate bill.
After the law was approved, Glick stated in a statement that it was “a significant step forward in preserving the lives of the unborn children in our state.”
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“We have put together a bill that would not criminalize women and would protect the unborn whose voices have been silenced for the past 50 years under Roe v Wade,” she added.
Ten of the Senate’s 11 Democrats voted against the bill, with the 11th member absent for Saturday’s debate.
Democratic Sen. Tim Lanane of Anderson condemned the bill as a product of a male-dominated Legislature that’s poised to take away the control that pregnant women should have over their own bodies.
“This is the government, the male-dominated government of the state of Indiana, saying to the women of this state, you lose your choice,” he said. “we’ve told you — papa state, big state government — is going to tell you what you will do with your body. And I don’t think we’re ready for that.”
The bill now heads to the House, where proposed changes could come as soon as next week — the second week of lawmakers’ three-week special session. Lawmakers must adjourn their session by Aug. 14.
House Speaker Todd Huston on Friday declined to discuss specifics of the Senate bill. But he said he supports the rape and incest exceptions.
Gov. Eric Holcomb said earlier this summer that he had no “red lines” on what anti-abortion measures lawmakers might consider. But on July 12 Holcomb sidestepped taking a stance on how far the Republican-dominated Legislature should go in restricting abortions in its special session.
An overwhelming majority of Americans, according to a recent national survey, agree that their state should typically permit abortion in certain circumstances, such as when a woman’s life is in jeopardy or when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. A study conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that few people believe abortion should always be prohibited.