The state's highest court ruled June 30 that the near-total abortion ban does not violate the Indiana Constitution. On Monday, the Indiana Supreme Court denied the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana's request that the court rehear the case. As a result, the ban that prohibits most abortions in the state is in effect as of today.
"The closing of all abortion clinics is a victory for unborn babies throughout Indiana," Indiana Right to Life (IRTL) President Mike Fichter tells AFN. "Our state is also sending a message to the rest of the nation that when we stand together with love and compassion in protecting unborn babies and supporting pregnant mothers, we save lives, improve lives, and we support a national culture that values life."
Fichter is encouraged by the expectations that "9,000 fewer babies will be aborted per year in the state of Indiana."
"This is truly an historic day, and we are so thankful to the thousands upon thousands of Hoosiers who worked so hard for over 50 years to bring this day about," he adds. "We also know that there are many opportunities ahead for Indiana to do even more in caring for babies and pregnant mothers."
One of those opportunities will be protecting young girls from being trafficked.
But while pro-lifers are grateful and look forward to this and other policy discussions in the weeks and months ahead, they also know they are in for a fight.
"There's still a lot of work to do in this state," says Melanie Garcia Lyon, executive director at Voices for Life. "All you have to do is look at our neighbors, Michigan and Illinois, both of which have essentially no regulations on abortion."
Every major Indiana city is within two hours of a state that is an abortion haven, so women will still be traveling out of state to get abortion procedures.
"The pro-life movement has said for a while that the long run is really the cultural change," Lyon notes. "Now is really the time to double down on that and get to the harder work of changing hearts and minds."
She adds that changing the law is important, but making abortion "unthinkable" is the only way to fully end out-of-state abortion travel and the illegal sale of abortion pills.
To that end, Voices for Life is working to expand its door-to-door outreach program.
