Indiana House panel advances amended abortion bill in 8-5 vote
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indiana House committee on Tuesday night approved an amended abortion bill to send it to the full House.
The vote was 8 to 5.
The full House was scheduled to debate amendments to the bill Thursday. A final vote was scheduled for Friday.
State Rep. Cindy Ziemke voted “no.” The Republican from Batesville said she wants abortion approved through the first trimester.
All other votes were along party lines.
Four Republicans said they voted “yes” but only to move the bill forward since they weren’t completely supportive of the amended version: Michael Aylesworth of Hebron, Stephen Bartels of Eckerty, Chris Jeter of Fishers, and John Young of Franklin.
The committee announced changes earlier Tuesday, including:
- Changes to the time frame for abortion under the exception of rape and incest (10 weeks regardless of age).
- No longer requires notary for rape and incest claims,.
- Adds exception of health of mother.
- Removes criminal penalties.
- Creates panel to review prosecutors who refuse to file cases instead of the Indiana attorney general.
On Tuesday night, a Democratic push to send the abortion bill to the Public Health Committee was defeated before the full House voted to accept the committee report.
Before Tuesday night’s actions, two woman talked to News 8 about their feelings on the abortion bill.
Deb Beers, who had abortion in 1991, said, “I had never felt such anguish and defeat before, complete and utter despair. I knew Satan was right, what a wretched person I was. I started drinking heavily to drown out the accusations and my own thoughts of worthlessness.”
Robin McCarty, who had abortion at age 16, said, “I am the vice chair of the Indiana Election Commission, I was on the state employee appeals commission, I was on the Bloomington Planning Commission. All of these things are things I would not have been able to achieve had I continued that pregnancy.”
Lawmakers also talked the abortion bill on Tuesday.
Rep. Wendy McNamara, a Republican from Evansville, said, “It does not affect access to the method of birth control or the morning-after pill, it does not affect treatment of miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies. It does not affect in-vitro fertilization.”
Rep. Matt Pierce, a Democrat from Bloomington, said of the amendments, “As you can probably imagine, there are still a lot of problematic things, from my viewpoint, that remain, but I do think this takes care of a lot of things in the bill.”
BELOW IS PREVIOUS COVERAGE FROM NEWS 8.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — People from across the political spectrum told lawmakers on Tuesday they were still dissatisfied with the abortion restrictions under consideration.
A House panel made several key changes before it took public testimony Tuesday morning.
Notably, it removed criminal penalties from the bill and took out a provision that would allow the attorney general to step in if a county prosecutor refuses to bring charges against abortion service providers. It also changed the exception for rape and incest to allow all victims 10 weeks to get an abortion, regardless of age.
The Senate approved a version of the bill that allowed abortion at 12 weeks for victims under age 16, and 8 weeks for everyone else. Additionally, the bill no longer includes a requirement for rape victims to provide sworn affidavits about their condition.
The changes did not satisfy some members of the public.
Many abortion rights supporters say the panel’s changes were an improvement, but the bill would still ban abortion under nearly all circumstances.
Northeast Indiana National Organization of Women President Keiran O’Dowd says that while abortion is not a form of birth control, it is a form of healthcare.
“Having an abortion is one of the most difficult decisions any woman can make, and it should be a decision that is made by a woman and her physician, and no other,” she said. “Certainly not a legislative body such as this one.
Some abortion opponents say the bill still has too many exceptions.
Luke Campbell, who ran unsuccessfully for a statehouse seat in the May primary, pointed to Article 1 of Indiana’s bill of rights, which echoes the Declaration of Independence’s clause that people are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life.
“This bill still reflects a secular, performance and/or utilitarian view of human life and is completely antithetical to the state constitution,”Campbell said.
The committee was expected to vote on the bill later on Tuesday. The full House was expected to take it up later this week.