What Biden’s order on abortion access means for the Hoosier state
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — President Biden has called on Congress to restore access to abortion.
Biden signed an executive order Friday that efforts to limit access to federally approved abortion medication and travel across state lines for a procedure.
It, also, directs agencies to help doctors and insurers learn how and when they have to share privileged patient information with authorities. Plus, it tells the Federal Trade Commission to protect the privacy of people looking for information online.
Another part of the order gets volunteer lawyers to help people understand new state laws.
Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor in Bloomington, said this is as much as President Biden can do in an executive order.
Madeira said the states should not be able to restrict medication abortion because that’s under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Nine states already banned abortion and 12 are set to restrict or ban it in the next several weeks.
Indiana has tried to ban abortions in the past.
Governor Holcomb and the General Assembly will start to discuss abortion on July 25.
“I think what we’re going to see is mobile clinics perhaps on the Illinois side of the border to facilitate Indiana women’s access to abortion. I think that we’re going to see this group of private pro bono lawyers who might help people in Indiana cross state line to Illinois or other states to get abortion procedures,” said Madeira. “And I think we’re going to see gaurantee’s from the federal government that we have access to medication abortion, emergency contraception, and IUD’s.”
Madeira explained that she thinks we’re on the verge of looking at a federal law that will preserve or codify the right to an abortion for all women in all states.
Last year, the Hoosier state had the highest number of abortions performed since 2011.
Data from the Indiana Department of Health showed 8,414 women had obtained abortions in Indiana. Of those, 465 came from out of state. All but 105 of those abortions was before the pregnancy hit the 14-week mark. More than half of those were medical abortions.
President Biden’s executive order does not restore access to abortion in the states that have already banned it.