Editor's note: This column has been updated for clarity.
Abortion laws remain a hot topic of debate, especially under the current administration. However, this tumult will eventually strike Hoosiers, whether they are aware of it or not.
Indiana contains 16 Planned Parenthood locations and four clinics that provide surgical or medicated abortions. One Planned Parenthood and one clinic are located in Bloomington.
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked another abortion access law Feb. 8, the second case to be brought to the Supreme Court in recent years. This bill addressed the current laws in Louisiana, where the state proposed having only one abortion clinic in the entire state, leaving one physician to care for the around 10,000 abortions reported in the state.
The ruling was a close call, having a 5-4 outcome. Justice Brett Kavanaugh voted in favor of the law and wrote a dissent on the case.
This is not the first time these abortion access laws failed to pass through the Supreme Court.
In 2016, Texas legislators passed a bill requiring abortion clinics to only be placed in major cities within the state and to limit access for doctors to perform the procedures.
In short, only Texas doctors with admitting privileges to other hospitals could perform the procedures. The Supreme Court's vote abolished this requirement, ruling it “an undue burden on abortion access."
Ultimately, this decision was close as well, with a 5-3 ruling.
It is disconcerting to imagine the second largest state in the country only having a handful of clinics. For Hoosiers, it is dizzying to imagine Louisiana with one remaining clinic, as it is a state with a relative size to Indiana, and a population coming in below the Hoosier state.
While the matter is temporarily resolved, according to CNN, more states are predicted to tackle the issue as well.
The Times of Northwest Indiana found the Indiana House to be the most conservative in the nation. Additionally, it was reported in 2018 that Indiana abortion laws were the most restrictive in the country, and some lawmakers in the state are attempting to ban the rights to an abortion altogether.
Indiana abortion laws include requiring patients to have an ultrasound before the abortion, have the fetus be buried or cremated and to only be performed if the fetus poses a risk to the mother's health.
Other laws were created, such as an 18-hour waiting period before the procedure and reporting abortion complications even if it was not performed at an abortion clinic, but both laws were blocked in the summer of 2018.
With this in mind, the state has the potential to bring a bill similar to Texas and Louisiana's to the Supreme Court, as Indiana’s abortion laws are similar, and more restrictive than the two states. Additionally, it is possible that the court may overturn Roe v. Wade.
In the wake of this knowledge, let’s paint a scenario.
A law is approved by the Supreme Court to allow one clinic in the entire state, and that one clinic remains in Bloomington.
With the increasing rates of abortions in the state, according to reports in 2016 and 2018, Indiana needs more than one abortion clinic.
If a law is passed, the clinic would be overwhelmed with patients, whether they need abortions, STD tests or regular examinations.
Citizens of Bloomington should be concerned, as the population that ranges from ages 15-24 are the highest affected by cases of abortions, and this age group totals to nearly half of Bloomington's population.
As these increasingly restrictive laws are detrimental to safe and legal abortions, Hoosiers need to advocate now before it is too late.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the number of Planned Parenthood locations in Indiana. The IDS regrets this error.
