Abortion Law That Mike Pence Signed as Indiana Governor Permanently Blocked

A federal judge permanently struck down provisions of an Indiana law passed last year that would have banned abortions sought due to fetal genetic abnormalities and required that aborted fetuses be buried or cremated.

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A federal judge permanently struck down provisions of an Indiana law passed last year that would have banned abortions sought due to fetal genetic abnormalities and required that aborted fetuses be buried or cremated.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt's decision, issued Friday, found that those two provisions and a third one are unconstitutional. She granted an order permanently blocking all three from being enforced and granted summary judgment in favor of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, which had sued the state in April 2016 after then-Gov. Mike Pence signed the provisions into law.

The three restrictions violate women's due process rights under the Constitution and conflict with rulings by numerous courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding a woman's right to seek an abortion before a fetus could viably survive outside the womb, Pratt wrote in her ruling.

"The challenged anti-discrimination provisions directly contravene well-established law that precludes a state from prohibiting a woman from electing to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability," the judge wrote.

Pratt's order makes permanent her preliminary order issued in June 2016 -- a day before the law was set to take effect -- that temporarily blocked the provisions from being enforced.

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Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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