Indiana Abortion Clinics Stop Abortions as Law Goes in Effect

As Indiana's abortion restrictions take effect Tuesday for the first time, the state's six abortion clinics have stopped providing abortions as legal challenges continue.

Abortion advocates have petitioned Indiana's top court to stop the abortion restrictions.

The GOP-passed law is called a near-total ban by Democrats, activists, and many mainstream media outlets, but the law permits abortion up to the 22 weeks if a "lethal fetal anomaly" is detected and up to 12 weeks in cases of rape or incest.

The permitted abortions must be conducted at hospitals, so the law revokes abortion licenses for all seven abortion clinics in the state, one of which closed in June.

Before Indiana's ban was passed, state laws generally prohibited abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and tightly restricted them after the 13th week.

Indiana's six abortion clinics have stopped providing abortions, despite the court petition in place, clinic officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood's four Indiana abortion clinics stopped performing abortions Monday in accordance with state guidance that providers received in July alerting them that on or around Tuesday abortion would become illegal in Indiana in clinic settings "with really very, very limited exceptions," said Rebecca Gibron, CEO of the Planned Parenthood division that includes Indiana.

Indiana's two other abortion clinics have also stopped providing abortions.

Indiana became the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court ended nearly a half-century of federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Although Planned Parenthood's four Indiana abortion clinics have stopped providing abortions, Gibron said its 11 health centers across the state continue to offer services, including emergency contraception and birth control, even as the group works to help Hoosiers obtain out-of-state abortions.

"Planned Parenthood will not be intimidated and bullied and we will not be silenced," Gibron said at a news conference outside one of the group's clinics that provided abortions in Indianapolis.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, representing Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinic operators, challenged the ban's constitutionality. But in a June 30 ruling, the Indiana Supreme Court found the ban does not violate the Indiana Constitution. Its ruling struck down a preliminary injunction that had kept the ban on hold, although that ruling has yet to be certified to officially take effect.

On Monday, the last day for it to do so, the ACLU of Indiana filed a petition for a rehearing with the high court asking it to keep the ban on hold while it pursues a narrower preliminary injunction in a trial court to address the scope of the ban's exemption allowing women facing serious health risks to obtain abortions.

That filing delays the certification of the court's ruling while it considers whether to grant or deny that petition, said court spokesperson Kathryn Dolan. It is unclear how long it might take the high court to decide the matter, but after rehearing petitions are filed, the opposing party — in this case the state's attorneys — have 15 days to file a response.

Gibron said Planned Parenthood ended abortion services Monday in light of the state's guidance and the uncertainty over when the court will certify its abortion ban ruling.

"The reality is that it can happen at any point," she said. "The Supreme Court could certify it this afternoon."

Although Planned Parenthood's Indiana abortion clinics are no longer performing abortions, Gibron said a "patient navigation team" is working to help patients get out-of-state abortions. That includes helping schedule appointments and helping with travel costs.

Adjacent Illinois and Michigan — states where abortion remains unrestricted — will most likely become the destinations for many Indiana residents seeking out-of-state abortion care, said Gibron, who is CEO for Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, and Kentucky.

Planned Parenthood of Illinois had prepared for years for the possibility of Roe v. Wade falling, and it opened clinics near the Indiana and Wisconsin borders in 2018 and 2020 in anticipation of those states restricting access to abortion, said Kristen Schultz, the affiliate's chief strategy and operations officer.

She said patients from Indiana nearly doubled after the state's ban briefly went into effect last September and that traffic is expected to rise again starting this week. Schultz said more doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, and medical assistants have been hired to accommodate the expected surge.

"The demand has increased," she said.

Information from AP was used throughout this report.

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