Abortion (Senate Bills 90 and 89)

There are three main parts to these two bills: 

1) It defines what a woman must be told before she has an abortion. (SB 90)

This bill would require that a woman be told that “there is differing medical evidence concerning when a fetus feels pain.”  The point of this section and section 2 is that women should be fully informed before going through with a life changing decision like having an abortion.   The research, and former abortion doctors, tells us that babies feel pain at some point within their development within the womb.  When an unborn child is being torn apart in the womb, he or she recoils from these life ending injuries.  Women are often not made aware of this important fact before ending the life of their child.

2) It determines what a woman must be given in writing before she has an abortion. (SB 90)

It is important for women to be given information in writing so that we can know that abortion providers are actually giving women the information required by law and allow the woman to have the information available with her at home as she continues to contemplate whether or not she should end her child’s life.

This section stipulates that women would be given the following information in writing 18 hours before the abortion:

(A) That adoption alternatives are available, that there are many couples who are willing and waiting to adopt a child, and that, under certain circumstances, adoptive parents may legally pay costs associated with prenatal care, childbirth, and neonatal care.            

(B) That there are physical risks to the woman in having an abortion, both during the abortion procedure and after.            

(C) That an embryo formed by the fertilization of a human ovum by a human sperm immediately begins to divide and grow as human physical life.

3) It requires that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at a local hospital. (SB 89)

Very few doctors in Indiana choose to perform abortions.  In fact, it is often the case that doctors will fly in from out of state to certain Planned Parenthood facilities, perform a number of abortions, and then fly back out of state.   In certain areas in the state, such as Fort Wayne, there have been situations where women have had complications due to their abortion and have been left without care.   These women usually go to their local emergency room.  However, the abortion doctor is nowhere to be found, local doctors are left to pick up the pieces, and the patient is traumatized. 

This section of the bill would require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.  This would enable accountability for abortion doctors who do not do an adequate job of caring for their patients and give the patient a place to go in times of crisis following an abortion.