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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Gov. Daniels signs bill defunding Planned Parenthood in Ind.

Today, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed 80 bills into law, including a bill to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood, several bills dealing with immigration and the biennial state budget.

One of the bills, HEA 1210, cuts off federal money allocated through the state to Planned Parenthood. It also requires physicians to show a fetal ultrasound to the pregnant woman, unless the woman requests in writing not to view it. It increases the mandatory wait-period for a woman seeking an abortion, requires a physician to tell a woman that receiving an abortion carries health risks and requires a physician to inform a woman wanting an abortion that the fetus is able to feel pain at or before 20 weeks.

Indiana is the only state in the nation to have defunded Planned Parenthood.

According to an interview about the bill last week with Kate Shepherd, Planned Parenthood’s spokeswoman, the new law eliminates 13 percent of their funding and puts eight clinics across the state at risk for closure.

Bloomington’s clinic is not at risk for closure, said Shepherd.  She also said last week that Planned Parenthood would immediately file an injunction to stop the bill from taking affect if it were signed by Daniels.

Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed for an injunction against the bill being enforced in the U.S. District Court in Indianapolis at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Women will still be able to receive care from Planned Parenthood clinics, but Medicaid patients will no longer be able to receive care under their Medicaid plans at Planned Parenthood clinics.

None of the funding that the new law eliminates went to providing abortion, as it is illegal for federal money to go to providing abortions.

OTHER BILLS SIGNED
SEA 590 is similar to the controversial immigration bill in Arizona. It deals with various illegal immigration matters. Most notably the bill makes it illegal to knowingly or intentionally shelter or harbor an illegal immigrant in a vehicle or building. Furthermore, it requires the state Office of Management and Budget to determine what the cost of illegal immigration is to Indiana and ask the US Congress to reimburse Indiana for these costs.

HEA 1402 makes it illegal for a university in the state of Indiana to provide in-state tuition to people that are not lawful United States residents.

HEA 1601 and HEA 1602, also signed into law today, redraw the boundaries for state legislative and U.S. Congressional districts in the state of Indiana. This is done every ten years following the release of population data from the U.S. Census.

Additionally, Daniels signed the state’s two-year budget into law and vetoed HEA 117.

The vetoed bill would have required that the majority of members of the Boards of Trustees of Indiana University and Ball State University be residents of Indiana. “While in practice this may always be the case, to require it by law expresses a narrow and provincial outlook inconsistent with the global role and stature we hope these schools will aspire to and attain,” Daniels said in a statement.

— Zach Ammerman

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