A lawmaker in Indiana intends to introduce a bill in January that would criminalize abortion in all cases, including when the mother’s life is at risk.
When the General Assembly convenes, State Representative Curt Nisly will move forward with his “Protection at Contraception” legislation, which would allow for the criminal prosecution of any woman who obtained an abortion and any doctor that assisted her.
While the law would surely be considered unconstitutional, Nisly argues that by the time the case would get to the Supreme Court, the makeup of the justices might allow for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Indiana has a record of passing extreme anti-abortion legislation. In June, a federal judge placed a preliminary injunction on two Indiana laws, one that attempted to outlaw abortions performed solely because of a fetus’s genetic abnormality, and another that attempted to ban abortions performed on the basis of the fetus’s race or sex.
Indiana is also the state that imprisoned Purvi Patel, the first woman in the country to have been convicted of feticide for self-inducing an abortion. Her 20 year sentence was recently overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals and she was released from prison in September.
