Indiana Gov. Mike Pence enacted legislation late Thursday that will further expand the state’s abortion restrictions.
House Enrolled Act 1337 effectively prohibits a woman from getting an abortion following the diagnosis of a disability, like Down Syndrome, in the fetus. It would also ban abortions for the purpose of sex selection.
In addition, all miscarried or aborted fetuses would be interred or cremated in an effort to ensure organs are not sold to third parties, a concern after leaked Planned Parenthood videos from last summer made that practice public.
Despite criticisms of the law from various groups, the Republican governor has called it a “comprehensive pro-life measure that affirms the value of all human life.”
The Hoosier State is the second in the nation to sign language into law that bans abortions under those limited conditions. The state’s current abortion rate is below the national average and has seen a 20 percent decline over the past five years due to previously enacted laws that created restrictions for some abortions.
