Indiana Denied Ability to Enforce Abortion Laws During Appeal

Indiana lost a bid to enforce five abortion restrictions while it appeals a permanent injunction, with a federal judge criticizing the state’s arguments as “wishful thinking.”

An injunction remains in place following the state’s appeal of a decision invalidating its physician-only law, second-trimester hospitalization requirement, in-person counseling requirement, telemedicine ban, and in-person examination requirement, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker said.

Barker, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, held in a 158-page opinion that Indiana can’t ban telemedicine medical abortions by mandating that only physicians can provide them, requiring preabortion physical examinations, and requiring prescribers ...