Indiana's state legislature has become the first in the US to pass new legislation restricting access to abortions after the federal supreme court overturned Roe v Wade.
Indiana was one of the earliest Republican-controlled state legislatures to debate tighter abortion laws after the Supreme Court ruling in June that removed constitutional protections. It is the first state to pass a ban through both chambers.
The Indiana senate approved the near-total ban on 28 -- 19, hours after house members advanced it 62 -- 38. It includes limited exceptions, including in cases of rape and incest, and to protect the life and physical health of the mother. The exceptions for rape and incest are limited to 10 weeks post-fertilization, meaning victims could not get an abortion in Indiana after that. Victims would not be required to sign a notarized affidavit attesting to an attack.
Outside the house chamber, abortion rights activists often carried signs like Roe roe roe your vote and Build a wall between church and state. Some house Democrats wore blazers over pink Bans Off Our Bodies t-shirts.
In the past two weeks, Indiana lawmakers listened to testimony in which residents of all sides of the issue rarely supported the legislation. Abortion-rights supporters said the bill goes too far, while anti-abortion activists said it does not go far enough.
In a campaign against the bill, Rep. Ann Vermilion criticized her fellow Republicans for calling women who obtained abortions murderers. She said that the Lord's promise is for grace and kindness. He wouldn't be jumping to the defense of these women. The house rejected, largely on party lines, a Democratic proposal to place a non-binding question on the statewide November ballot: Shall abortion remain legal in Indiana? If residents were unhappy, they could vote for new lawmakers, according to the Indiana House Speaker, Todd Huston.
Kansas voters have rejected a measure that would have allowed the state's Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten abortion in the first test of voters' feelings about the issue since Roe was overturned.
Indiana's proposed ban came after the political firestorm over a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to the state from Ohio to end her pregnancy. The case gained attention when a Indianapolis doctor said the child came to Indiana because of Ohio's fetal heartbeat ban.
Democratic Rep. Maureen Bauer spoke tearfully before Friday s vote on people in her South Bend district who oppose the bill, the husbands standing behind their wives, the fathers supporting their daughters and the women who are demanding that we are seen as equal to Bauer's comments, followed by raucous cheers from protesters in the hallway and subdued applause from fellow Democrats.
Bauer said that you may not have thought that these women would show up. Maybe you thought we wouldn't be paying attention. On July 29th, West Virginia legislators passed up the chance to be the first state to have a unified ban after the lower house refused to agree to senate amendments that removed criminal penalties for doctors who performed illegal abortions. Delegates asked for a conference committee to look at the details of the bills.