Indianapolis – Today, Indiana Right to Life (IRTL) applauds the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in the case of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc. v. Marion County Prosecutor, et al. Abortion rights extremists had challenged the constitutionality of the “Complications Statute” in Indiana’s Senate Enrolled Act 340.
In response to Judge Amy J. St. Eve’s ruling, IRTL President Mike Fichter said:
“We’re thrilled to see the Seventh Circuit rule in favor of this common-sense abortion Complications Statute and against abortion-rights extremists. Abortionists and hospitals should have to report complications related to abortion, as women have a right to know the serious harm an abortion could do to them, both physically and mentally.”
Under the Complications Statute, licensed physicians, hospitals, and abortion clinics must provide a detailed complications report to the state when one of 26 complications occurs as a result of an abortion.
Planned Parenthood had argued the law was unconstitutionally vague and the district court agreed, but the Seventh Circuit found that the Complications Statute did not violate the “void for vagueness doctrine”. The case was remanded to the district court for further proceedings.
Planned Parenthood argued this list of abortion complications to be reported was “unconstitutionally vague”:
(a) As used in this section, “abortion complication” means only the following physical or psychological conditions arising from the induction or performance of an abortion:
(1) Uterine perforation.
(2) Cervical laceration.
(3) Infection.
(4) Vaginal bleeding that qualifies as a Grade 2 or higher adverse event according to the Common
Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE).
(5) Pulmonary embolism.
(6) Deep vein thrombosis.
(7) Failure to terminate the pregnancy.
(8) Incomplete abortion (retained tissue).
(9) Pelvic inflammatory disease.
(10) Missed ectopic pregnancy.
(11) Cardiac arrest.
(12) Respiratory arrest.
(13) Renal failure.
(14) Shock.
(15) Amniotic fluid embolism.
(16) Coma.
(17) Placenta previa in subsequent pregnancies.
(18) Pre-term delivery in subsequent pregnancies.
(19) Free fluid in the abdomen.
(20) Hemolytic reaction due to the administration of ABO-incompatible blood or blood products.
(21) Hypoglycemia occurring while the patient is being treated at the abortion facility.
(22) Allergic reaction to anesthesia or abortion inducing drugs.
(23) Psychological complications, including depres-sion, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and sleeping disorders.
(24) Death.
(25) Any other adverse event as defined by criteria pro-vided in the Food and Drug Administration Safety In-formation and Adverse Event Reporting Program.
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