Judge promises to issue ruling in state abortion law challenge 'expeditiously'
"Is there a right to abortion? We contend there is not, they contend there is."
The statement from Indiana's solicitor general identifies the core issue in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's new restrictive abortion law.
A Monday court hearing in Bloomington requesting an injunction in the case came four days after the law essentially banning abortion in Indiana went into effect. A ruling is expected soon.
About 20 people, nearly half of them journalists, attended the hearing in Room 213 at the Charlotte Zietlow Justice Center.
Charlotte Zietlow, an abortion rights advocate and Bloomington political icon for whom the courts building is named, was among those in attendance and the last to arrive.
More:Mourning the dawn of Indiana's abortion law, protesters gather at Monroe County Courthouse
The legal teams on each side bantered and laughed together before the hearing began. That's when opposing legal lines were clearly drawn.
'Has the legislature gone too far?'
Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher argued the law, passed by state legislators after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, saves lives. "Unborn children will literally die if the law does not go into effect," he said.
ACLU of Indiana attorney Ken Falk argued that liberty guaranteed by the Constitution gives people a right to make their own decision in regard to abortion.
The government, he said, has no place in the debate, and all has been well for nearly 50 years. "Has the legislature gone too far? It surely has," Falk argued, pointing out legal abortion under Roe had conditions.
"There are reasonable regulations, and we have existed since 1973 with restrictions on abortion, as to when they can occur and where. We are not asking the court to rewrite the law," he said, but to declare the new law unconstitutional and "an illegal restriction of personal rights."
Fisher argued abortion was illegal in Indiana before 1973, and the Republican-dominated legislature's restrictive law reinstated what had been the local standard before Roe.
He said privacy isn't a guaranteed right. "The state constitution does not guarantee people complete sovereignty over their own affairs," Fisher said. "The legislature has spoken, and the court should not second guess that decision."
Falk said state lawmakers are wrong. "We are at a time now, with the notion of privacy, that we view personal autonomy as extremely important," he said.
Special judge from Owen County hears arguments
Owen Circuit Court II Judge Kelsey Hanlon, appointed special judge in the case, convened the hearing to consider evidence and arguments on a preliminary injunction request that would stop the law from being enforced until legal challenges are addressed and decided.
Hanlon took the matter under advisement, saying she will issue a ruling "expeditiously."
More:New abortion restrictions could worsen obstetric deserts, maternal mortality rates
The ACLU of Indiana filed the lawsuit on behalf of abortion providers and other entities in Indiana that facilitate abortion care.
Two Bloomington-based agencies, Planned Parenthood and All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center, are among the plaintiffs.
Defendants in the case are the Indiana Medical Licensing Board and the elected prosecutors in the counties where legal abortions were done before the new law went into effect Sept. 15. Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant is one of seven prosecutors named.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana abortion law: Special judge hears arguments on injunction
