AG Rokita: Indiana’s new abortion ban doesn’t change approach to enforcing it

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana’s attorney general said not to expect any abortion-related prosecutions that are different from what he does now.

Attorney General Todd Rokita’s comments came during an interview for Sunday’s “All INdiana Politics” a few days before Indiana’s new abortion ban is expected to take effect around Aug. 1.

The ban had been on hold due to a lawsuit over privacy grounds but an Indiana Supreme Court order issued June 30 allowed the ban to take effect while the lawsuit continues. The law still faces a separate order against it on religious liberty grounds but that order only applies to the plaintiffs in that case.

Rokita said Planned Parenthood’s announcement that it will curtail abortion services on Aug. 1 demonstrates the ban is acting as intended. In a recent case in Nebraska, an 18-year old-woman was sentenced to 90 days in jail after she obtained an abortion in violation of that state’s laws and then burned the fetus’ body to hide it. Her mother, who assisted her in obtaining abortion medications, will be sentenced in September. Asked whether he would pursue charges in a similar such case in Indiana, Rokita replied the ban doesn’t give him that authority. He also said he disputes the notion that he will go after someone’s medical records in search of evidence of an abortion once the ban takes effect.

“Anything I’m being accused of going to do after Aug. 1 if I was able to get a hold of these records is the same that I could do today right now,” the Republican said. “And so, if I was guilty of all these things that we’re being accused of, I would have already done them.”

“All INdiana Politics” airs at 9:30 a.m. Sundays on WISH-TV.