State organizations respond to potential overturn of Roe v. Wade

May 5—SOUTHERN INDIANA — With the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, state legislators could move to ban abortion in Indiana.

A leaked draft opinion of the Supreme Court case considering Mississippi's proposed ban on abortion suggests that Roe v. Wade, the court decision that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, could be overturned.

In 2020, there were 7,756 abortions in Indiana, 7,372 of which were Indiana residents, according to the latest annual Indiana Department of Health Terminated Pregnancy Report.

Leaders from Indiana sectors of the ACLU and Planned Parenthood agree that the draft opinion heightens their deepest fear that the right to an abortion will be taken away.

The repeal would allow individual states to determine their laws regarding abortion, or as the draft opinion states: "It is time to heed the constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

"The consequences of the impending Supreme Court decision this summer could be swift and devastating for communities nationwide. What comes next is dangerous and will open the floodgates for states across the country to ban abortion," said Rebecca Gibron, CEO for Planned Parenthood Great Northwest Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky.

If there were a full abortion ban in Indiana, Planned Parenthood said that at least 1.5 million women and people of reproductive age would not have access to abortions.

Without this access there would be a 21% increase in pregnancy-related deaths and a 33% increase in pregnancy-related deaths for Black women, the group estimated.

In 2019 the Indiana State Department of Health reported that Black women had the highest rate of pregnancy-related mortality with 37 deaths per 100,000 live births from 2012 to 2016. This can be compared to the national rate of 16.9 deaths per 100,000 live births.

The Terminated Pregnancy Report showed that almost 50% of those who received an abortion in Indiana in 2020 were white and about 34.6% were Black.

The number of abortions for Black women are disproportionate to the total population of Black people in the state, which is 12.4%, according to the 2020 Census. The same dataset showed that 61.6% of the state population is white.

Without access to abortions, the CEO of Center for Women and Families, Elizabeth Wessels-Martin, said that women in domestic violence situations who are raped are at risk of further trauma and abuse.

"Forcing survivors to keep that baby and raise that baby will continue to have devastating traumatic effects on survivors," Wessels-Martin, said, "We know case after case where that has been a situation."

While the Center for Women and Families does not provide medical guidance to clients, it does provide Indiana residents with resources that can give them medical information.

Wessels-Martin said that if Roe v. Wade is overturned it could be devastating to survivors of abuse. She noted that physical and sexual abuse go hand in hand and often perpetrators will purposefully impregnate their partners as a way of controlling them.

"They'll hide their birth control pills, they will put holes in their condoms, or won't wear a condom and full-blown rape their partners even in marriage," Wessels-Martin said.

Without the option for an abortion, Wessels-Martin said that women are forced to co-parent with their abuser, putting them at risk to receive further abuse.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned and Indiana passes a law that bans abortion, ACLU of Indiana executive director Jane Henegar said there could be repercussions for other laws.

There are a number of lawsuits that the ACLU has been working on over the years that have been pending at various levels of the federal courts as judges await a ruling in the Mississippi case, Henegar said.

"Once that decision comes down, those lower courts will evaluate the laws that they have in front of them and based on the court's reasoning and guidance they'll make decisions about those various laws," she continued.

Examples of some of these laws that Henegar provided include whether parents need to know about a minor's decision to get an abortion if deemed competent by a judge and what doctors have to say when advising patients.

"There have been numerous laws that have been blocked thus far, and so, of course, lower courts will look at those," she said.

Going forward, Henegar said that the ACLU is prepared to continue to fight for a woman's right to control her body and have access to abortions, regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling.

Barb Anderson, local social activist and former executive director of the homeless shelter Haven House, said that she identifies as a pro-choice Catholic woman and believes in a woman's right to reproductive choice.

"I've worked with so many poor women over the years and I've watched as people encourage them to have children they can't afford, and then they can't feed them once they're there," Anderson said.

Anderson said this can result in the child being taken away from a mother, "and so they hurt her all over again."

Mostly though, Anderson emphasized that Roe v. Wade is needed to protect women from having their bodies regulated.

Not all groups are disappointed with the news, however. Mary Ellen Van Dyke, executive director of Right to Life of Southwestern Indiana, said that the organization is hopeful that Roe v. Wade will be overturned.

Van Dyke said that overturning the decision would demonstrate how far the country has evolved since 1973, in both medical science, passion for unborn children and support for pregnant individuals.

She said that the use of ultrasounds prevents 90% of women from proceeding with abortions, though that number has since been contradicted by a 2011 study.

The study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology found that 98.4% of the participants who viewed their ultrasound images proceeded with the pregnancy termination, compared to 99% of those who did not view the images.

Indiana law requires that abortion providers perform a fetal ultrasound and offer the person seeking an abortion the opportunity to view it.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Van Dyke said Right to Life of Southwest Indiana looks forward to the Planned Parenthood in Evansville closing, along with all of the abortion clinics in the state.

"Indiana is a very pro-life state, and we are looking forward when Hoosiers will have the chance to come together to demonstrate our value for life and commitment that every person deserves to be born," she said.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Heath Organization, the Mississippi case proposing an abortion ban.

Indiana legislators signed a letter in March asking for Gov. Eric Holcomb to call a special session in the summer because of the expected ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade.

The letter asks that the session be held should the Supreme Court's ruling "expand Indiana's ability to protect unborn children." Local legislators Sen. Kevin Boehnlein, Sen. Gary Byrne, Sen. Chris Garten, Rep. Karen Engleman and Rep. Zach Payne signed the letter.

"Before further commenting on a leaked draft document out of the Supreme Court, like the rest of the country, I'll wait to review the official and final decision they release on the matter in the few weeks and months ahead," Holcomb said in an email to CNHI News Indiana.

With supermajorities in both chambers, Republican leadership has enough votes to pass anti-abortion legislation.