INDIANA ABORTION LAW

Indiana’s abortion law has changed substantially since the legalization of abortion on demand since 1973, thanks to the hard work of a lot of individuals and elected officials.

Some key points about Indiana’s abortion law:

  • Abortion is legal for the full nine months of pregnancy in Indiana.  A 2019 ban on dismemberment (D&E) abortions is currently blocked by a an injunction by a federal judge.
  • Aborted babies must be humanely buried or cremated.  The Supreme Court upheld this law in 2019 in one of the few pro-life victories nationwide over the last decade.
  • Freestanding abortion businesses may only do abortions legally in the first trimester.  Late term abortions must be done in hospitals and a physician must be standing by to provide care to the baby in the event the baby is born alive.
  • Indiana has a ban on partial-birth abortion.
  • Indiana law requires that women considering abortion must be given informed consent that includes information on fetal development, complications of abortion, alternatives to abortion, and more.
  • Indiana law requires parental consent for girls under 18-years of age.  However, minors can seek a judicial bypass.  A law requiring that parents be notified if a minor daughter seeks judicial bypass is blocked by an injunction by a federal judge.
  • Abortion counselors must inform a woman considering abortion about the ability to see an ultrasound image of her baby and the ability to hear her baby’s heartbeat.  Indiana law requiring that the ultrasound be made available at least 18 hours before an abortion is blocked by a judge.
  • Indiana’s law banning abortion, under civil rights code, for the sole reason of race, gender, disability, national origin of the mother, or Down syndrome, is permanently blocked as a result of the Supreme Court refusing to hear Indiana’s appeal in 2019.

Read the full Indiana Code on abortion in Indiana 

In 2020, Americans United for Life scored Indiana as the sixth most pro-life state in the nation.

In 2020, the pro-abortion Population Institute gave Indiana the grade of “F” for being a state that it does not consider friendly to unrestricted abortion access.

Currently there are abortion centers operating in the Indiana communities of Merrillville, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Indianapolis, and Bloomington.