Gov. Eric Holcomb has signed the Indiana legislature’s bill banning abortions in most cases into law, making his state the first to pass an abortion ban after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The state Senate voted 28-19 on Friday to concur with a House amendment on the bill, which contains exceptions for rape, incest, saving the life of the mother, and lethal fetal anomalies. Holcomb signed the bill into law just one hour after it was sent to his desk.
“If Holcomb signs it into law, the bill will take effect on Sept. 15 and almost all abortions will be illegal in the Hoosier State,” a reporter for Politico wrote on social media.
BREAKING: Indiana’s legislature has passed the nation’s first abortion ban after the fall of Roe after the Senate voted 28-19 tonight to concur with a House amendment on the bill. The bill now heads to @GovHolcomb’s desk.
— Megan Messerly (@meganmesserly) August 6, 2022
ANTI-ABORTION TEENAGER ALLEGEDLY BEATEN, ABUSED WHILE CANVASSING IN KANSAS
Before the House amendment, the state Senate passed the bill with a vote of 26-20. Under the bill, doctors who perform abortions could be charged with level-five felonies unless the abortion is performed for a mother whose life is in danger or who has been a victim of rape or incest.
The bill makes Indiana the 13th state to make abortion procedures a felony. Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah all have similar laws, though Utah saw a district judge temporarily block its ban.
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While the Supreme Court held in the 1973 Roe verdict that there existed a constitutional right to privacy that extended to abortions, the high court overturned this precedent in the June ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, returning the question of how to regulate the procedure to the states.
