Indiana's clinical error

At the IDS editorial board, we can all agree about the importance of women's health. Unfortunately, the Indiana House of Representatives has taken a good-intentioned bill, designed to aid the regulation of the state's abortion clinics, and subverted it into an under-handed attempt to close down all nine of them.\nHB 1080 is an offshoot of regulations proposed by the Indiana Department of Health. The IDOH proposal suggested revising current regulations that affect both abortion clinics and birthing centers, and included a grandfather clause for clinics in operation before January 2006. This grandfather clause would have only pertained to building codes, and not sanitation issues. \nHowever, the approved version of HB 1080 gives clinics a mere 11 months to complete costly and extensive renovations. Some of the overhauls the clinics would have to undertake include increasing the width of hallways, reorganizing the waiting room and increasing the size of examination rooms. Eleven months isn't even enough time to hire a contractor, much less finish construction; our legislators know this. If this were really about health and safety, the bill would have been written to make compliance possible.\nState Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, who is firmly anti-abortion, was one of the representatives who originally proposed implementing stronger regulations for abortion clinics. She is opposed to HB 1080 and points out that this bill is counter-productive because such harsh regulations (which would most likely cause all nine Indiana abortion providers to close) will likely cause a lawsuit. This could potentially halt the regulation process and derailing the intent of the legislation altogether. Said Welch: "I trust the Department of Health. If there is a sub-standard clinic, they will find a way to hold that clinic accountable."\nWere these regulations really an issue of patient safety, other ambulatory outpatient surgical centers would be subject to the same regulations, but they're not. Every other health-care service center is protected by the grandfather clause.\nIf this legislation passes in the Indiana Senate, it could potentially threaten women's access to reproductive health care. Abortions generally account for a small percentage of the services offered by centers such as Planned Parenthood, and the renovation process could halt all operations for years, not just the abortions. \nPlanned Parenthood, for example, is the largest provider of reproductive health care in the state. In addition to abortions, they also provide STI screening, annual gynecological exams, birth control and sexual education. Most of these services are provided on a sliding scale, meaning some of the lowest-income patients can access many of the services for free. \nIf the Indiana House of Representatives really wants to protect women's safety, we are fully behind them. The current wording of the bill, however, clearly suggests that this is just another battleground for the culture war in our state. It's unfortunate that real women (and men) are being put in the crossfire. It is our hope that HB 1080 does not pass in the Senate as written, but rather in such a way that it gives clinics time to comply.