Indiana House Moves Forward On Feticide, Admitting Privileges Bills

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice;  Public Health;  Abortion
Article Date: 14 Apr 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The Indiana House this week gave unanimous approval to a bill that would allow six to 20 years of additional prison time for individuals convicted of murder or attempted murder of a pregnant woman that causes the death of the fetus, the AP/Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Indiana already has a feticide law that applies to fetuses that are not viable outside the womb, but supporters of the new bill say the current sentence range of two to eight years is too lenient. Indiana law also allows prosecutors to file murder charges in cases in which a fetus dies if the woman was at least seven months pregnant. The bill would apply to a fetus at any stage of development. The state Senate recently passed a similar version of the bill (S.B. 236) (AP/Courier-Journal, 4/8).

Bill To Require Abortion Providers To Have Hospital Admitting Privileges Clears Committee

The Indiana House Public Policy Committee on Tuesday voted 8-4 to approve a bill (S.B. 89) that would require a doctor performing an abortion to have admitting privileges at a hospital in the county where the procedure is taking place or in a neighboring county, the AP/Louisville Courier-Journal reports. The bill already has cleared the Senate and now moves to the full House. Supporters of the bill say it aims to provide better care to abortion patients who might experience complications, while opponents say that complications are rare and that the bill is an attempt to restrict access to abortions (Smith, AP/Louisville Courier-Journal, 4/8).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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