An Indiana anti-abortion organization recently drafted an anti-abortion ordinance as part an effort to pass like-minded legislation at the county level that was previously rejected by the statewide legislature. The ordinance (see PDF) would require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admittance privileges. County Commissioner Nelson Peters told the News-Sentinel that a vote on the ordinance is expected in November.
Similar measures have stalled in the Indiana state legislature because they passed in the Senate, but not the House. A related ordinance was passed in Vanderburgh County, which has no abortion clinics. Supporters of the ordinances claim they protect patient safety, but abortion providers and ordinance opponents say that these types of laws limit women’s legal access to abortions.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana Spokeswoman Kate Shepherd told the Journal Gazette, “We have to look at [the ordinance] as what it is….And that is a way to chip away at a woman’s right to choose.
