Abortion-Rights Opponents In Indiana Push At County Level For New Restrictions On Physicians

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 16 Oct 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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The debate over Indiana legislation that would increase requirements for physicians who perform abortions "has moved to the county level" after statewide efforts to enact the legislation stalled, the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports. In Allen County, Ind., Allen County Right To Life has drafted a county ordinance that would require doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and notify the patient of the hospital where she could receive follow-up care. The requirements are similar to provisions of the state bill, which stalled after passing the Senate. Vanderburgh and Dubois counties have adopted similar ordinances, although neither county has an abortion clinic, the Journal Gazette reports.

Supporters of the Allen County ordinance are presenting it as a patient safety measure, although the ordinance only restricts doctors performing certain gynecological procedures, including procedures used during abortions, according to the Journal Gazette. County Commissioner Nelson Peters last week said that the ordinance, like any patient-related ordinance, would be expanded to cover more than just gynecological procedures.

Kate Shepherd, spokesperson with Planned Parenthood of Indiana, said that the group is prepared for the issue to come up again in the next legislative session, adding that its chance of passage would depend on which state representatives are re-elected in November. Shepherd said, "We have to look at this as what it is. And that is a way to chip away at a woman's right to choose, and of course, abortion is a safe and legal procedure."

State Senate President Pro Tempore David Long (R), who supported the state bill, said that it would be a challenge to pass similar ordinances in all of Indiana's 92 counties and that he would prefer to see a statewide law. Long said the bill likely could pass the Senate but not the Democratic-controlled House (Iacone, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 10/14).

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