Roe v Wade falls. Indiana overturns a 50-year law. See how it happened in 'First to Act'
Indiana lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1 in 2022, prohibiting all abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormalities, or when the mother's life is at risk.
On Aug. 21, more than a year after Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill into law, most abortions in Indiana officially became illegal, following a decision by the Indiana Supreme Court to deny a request from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood to rehear the case.
During that year, confusion from the public and medical experts ensued and the IndyStar visuals team saw the need to bring context to how Indiana became the first to vote to remove abortion rights for its residents.
Attorney James Bopp Jr. played key role
The nearly 23-minute film features Indiana conservative lawyer James Bopp Jr., who explains how he used NAACP tactics to chip away at Roe v. Wade over time.
"We were passing whatever statutes we could justify under current law," Bopp, who has served as general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee since 1978, said. "And the pro-choice side was trying to create an absolute right to abortion. So we were creating the battlefield, and then they were coming into the battlefield to fight us, which gave us an advantage all the time."
Indiana Rep. Renee Pack spoke out
The film also features Rep. Renee Pack, D-Indianapolis, an Army veteran who spoke on the House Chamber floor during the SB1 debate about her own abortion experience in 1990.
"After serving, after raising my family, grandchildren, it took me getting to the Statehouse for my colleagues to call me a murderer," Pack said in response to a fellow lawmaker's comments on abortion. "I am not a murderer. And my sisters are not murderers either. We are pro-choice. That is what we are. We believe that we have command over our own bodies. That's who we are."
10-year-old rape victim sought abortion in Indiana
Niki Kelly, editor of the Indiana Capital Chronicle, who has reported solely on the Indiana Statehouse for 25 years, meshes both Democrat's and Republican's thoughts into a concise recount of the two-week special session that essentially outlawed abortion in Indiana.
"To be in that building on that first day, the building shook with the number of people," Kelly said. "It was very tense, that entire 10 days was an intensity I've never seen."
Kelly goes on to explain how the vote on an amendment over the law's exceptions was likely affected by the coverage of the rape of a young Ohio girl who sought an abortion in Indiana, first reported by IndyStar.
"I do believe that without that case that amendment might have gone through," she said. "And Indiana might have a law without exceptions."
Abortion fight will continue
The film, which also includes interviews with Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, and Dr. Katie McHugh, an abortion care provider, concludes by suggesting that the fight for abortion access in Indiana is not over ... not until one side gives up.
Watch the video at the top of this article.
Contact IndyStar photojournalist Mykal McEldowney at 317-790-6991 or mykal.mceldowney@indystar.com. Follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana was the first state to outlaw most abortions. How it happened
