After Indiana court ruling, protesters rally against abortion law
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The state’s near-total ban on abortion could go into effect on or around Aug. 1 after the Indiana Supreme Court lifted an injunction against it in June.
That decision did not prevent dozens of people from protesting Saturday in front of the Statehouse. Janice Bennett was among them. She remembered what life was like before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled abortion was protected by the Constitution.
“It was a big cause. We were trying to get it legalized, and I remember how hard it was for women, how many women died because they got an illegal abortion.”
Today, she finds herself back in that fight 50 years later and one year after Indiana legislators passed a near-total ban on abortion.
Bennett said, “To me it’s about rights and privacy. My decision is for family, or my life, when it comes to abortion and my health care. That’s my decision.”
Right to Life Indianapolis issued a statement after the Indiana Supreme Court allowed the law to take effect saying in part.
“”This is big victory in the fight to protect the life of unborn babies, and to protect pregnant mothers from the often lifelong trauma of abortion. This case is also a victory in that Indiana was the first state to pass pro-life legislation since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.”
The group All-Options Pregnancy runs an abortion fund that helps Hoosiers get abortions out of state. It said that, from January to June, it funded 1,600 abortions and pledged over $300,000 in support to people who need abortion care.
Jessica Marchbank, state programs director for All-Options, said that number increased dramatically in the months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. “January of 2022, we funded 51 people and we pledged about $11,000 for that whole month. We funded 50 people in two days this week.”
Despite facing an uphill poltical battle, abortion rights supporters are determined to keep this issue on the front burner.
Protester Savannah Hart said, “Change can and will come. We just have to be persistent at it and we have to vote. If we don’t vote, we’re not going to get the people we need in office.”
A separate challenge to Indiana’s abortion law, filed by Hoosier Jews for Choice, remains pending in a Marion Superior court in Indianapolis.