Controversial abortion bill passes House

From IDS REPORTS

House Bill 1210, legislation that would implement more stringent abortion regulations and cut government funding to entities that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, passed the Indiana House of Representatives Wednesday.

After emotional testimony from legislators, the House voted 66-32 in favor of adopting a motion to concur H.B. 1210, which is now on its way to Gov. Mitch Daniels’ desk to be signed or vetoed. If the bill is signed, the stipulations of the bill would take effect immediately.

On April 19, the bill, sponsored by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Marion, passed the Senate Chamber with new amendments and made its way back to the House, where it remained for Wednesday’s vote. Had the House not voted in favor of adopting the motion, the bill would have been sent to a conference committee where provisions to the bill would have been made.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, introduced Representative Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, before he took to the House Floor to declare his frustration with the bill.

“We had a whole Tea Party movement explode and, perhaps, propel many of you into office,” Pierce told his colleagues. “What an ironic destination the Tea Party express has arrived at. The same people that decried this government intervention in our health care system now are here urging us to vote for a bill that tells doctors what to tell
their patients.”
H.B. 1210 requires physicians that perform abortions to inform their patient, orally and in writing, of the risks of the procedure, that human life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm and that adoption services are one of many available options.

- Vince Zito