The Indiana state House Public Policy Committee passed a bill that would require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. The bill has already been passed by the state Senate, according to the Associated Press. Similar measures have stalled in the state legislature in the past because they have passed the Senate, but not the House.
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 abortion.
Anti-abortion groups in Indiana have been pushing similar ordinances at the county level as they continue to hit roadblocks in the state legislature. One of these ordinances was passed in Vanderburgh County, which has no abortion clinics, in August 2008. A similar ordinance is now being pushed in Allen County, where the Fort Wayne Women’s Health Organization clinic has been located since 1977. This clinic is one of only nine abortion providers in Indiana.
