Supreme Court denies hearing

Indiana women will now have to receive in-person counseling 18 hours prior to having an abortion. The state mandated counseling would give women information about abortion and alternatives to the procedure.\nThe U. S. Supreme Court denied the hearing of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, declaring the original law to be constitutional and to stand as the guiding procedure for women wishing to have an abortion.\nTheresa Browning, director of Communications for Planned Parenthood of Greater Indiana, said the Supreme Court's decision to declare the law constitutional will place greater burdens on what is already a difficult process for women.\n"Life is not particularly easy when you're in the situation of a crisis pregnancy. Imposing more burdens, like making two trips to the clinic is just adding to those burdens," Browning said.\nThe appeals situation began in 1995 when the state passed a law mandating that women must receive counseling concerning abortion procedures and alternatives at least 18 hours before the procedure at the chosen clinic. U.S. District Judge David Hamilton issued an injunction in March 2001 preventing the state from implementing the counseling section of the law. The case was then taken to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals which rendered a decision by a three-judge federal appeal panel. Two of the three judges declared the law constitutional. The ICLU filed a challenge to the law soon after saying the law placed "undue burdens" upon women wishing to have the procedure, but the Supreme Court denied hearing the challenge Monday. \nThe full effects of the law will be immediately enacted, meaning women who wished to go to the clinic only once this week for an abortion will have to make an additional trip to receive counseling. These women will be given counseling by medical staff at the clinic, allowing only advanced practiced nurses or physicians to deliver state mandated information. This will result in increased costs for the women.\nWhile this decision will not affect many Hoosier women from metropolitan areas, it is the vast majority of rural and poor females who will carry the majority of the burdens since they would not have easy access to transportation or medical facilities.\nChallengers to the law believe the "undue burdens" faced by a woman would mean double the trouble to follow through with her decision. \nFor southern Indiana women, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Bloomington is their only option for abortions, and the clinic performs abortions only one day per week. Browning said women who live in Evansville or Madison, Ind., would have to find transportation to and from the clinic twice, possibly miss two days of work or classes and if they have kids, will have to find someone to watch the kids twice.\nOne campus group, Indiana University Students for Life, approves of the Supreme Court's decision. IUSFL supports the right to life and said there are "no excuses for abortion" according to the group's Web site, www.indiana.edu/~iusfl.\nIUSFL president Melody Kanney said the extended time period will allow women to think more about their life changing decision.\n"We're supportive of (the law) because it would cause women to think longer and be required to have more time before they can actually end the life of her child," Kanney said. "Anything that requires a woman to spend more time to think about what she's going to do is advisable."\nRepresetatives from Campus for Choice could not be reached for comment.