Pre-abortion law challenge begins

INDIANAPOLIS -- A judge on Tuesday began hearing arguments in the latest step of the legal fight over Indiana's law requiring women to receive pre-abortion counseling in person.\nCourt challenges have kept the law from taking effect since it was passed in 1995.\nThe law is now being challenged in Marion Superior Court after the U.S. Supreme Court in February refused to hear a challenge to the rule.\nIndiana is one of only a handful of states that require in-person counseling from a health care provider before a woman has an abortion.\nSince 1997, the counseling requirement in Indiana has been met by phone.\nAfter losing their bid to get a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court, attorneys for providers obtained a temporary restraining order in March that blocks the law from taking effect.\nThat order is due to expire Wednesday.\nAttorneys for six clinics and one physician who performs abortions want the judge to grant an injunction preventing the law from going into effect.\nThe Indiana attorney general's office wants the lawsuit dismissed.\nProviders argue the Indiana Constitution provides a right to privacy that prohibits the state from requiring the in-person counseling. The attorney general's office says there is no such provision.\nMore than 12,000 women had abortions in Indiana in 2000.\nThe clinics argue that the two-visit requirement is unfair to poor women and those in rural areas because they could have to make transportation, child care and other arrangements twice.\nIndiana has about 15 clinics that offer abortions, none of which are south of Bloomington, according to The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.