Planned Parenthood Challenges Indiana’s 2018 Anti-Abortion Law

Indiana Public Media (Apr. 23, 2018): Planned Parenthood Challenges Indiana’s 2018 Anti-Abortion Law, by Brandon Smith:

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU want a federal judge to strike down parts of Indiana’s new anti-abortion law.

The lawsuit challenges the 2018 law’s new abortion complication reporting requirements and mandated yearly inspections of abortion clinics. Prior to the new law's enactment, such inspections were optional.

The law requires medical providers who treat women for complications arising from abortions to report detailed patient information to the state.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky and the ACLU of Indiana argue the complication reports are unconstitutionally vague. For instance, one provision requires reporting of “any adverse physical or psychological condition arising from the induction or performance of an abortion.” The suit filed in federal court Monday calls that “so broad as to be meaningless.”

Many of the purported abortion complications the law lists "are both extremely rare for abortions and are more likely to occur after other medical procedures," according to the suit. One condition the law lists — blood clots — is a typical and short-lived side effect of having an abortion, it argues.

The suit challenges the yearly inspection mandate because it says no other health care facilities in the state face such a requirement.

This is the sixth lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood against the state since 2011. The health care provider has won partial or complete victories in each of the previous five.