Indiana Protesters Swarm Statehouse as Lawmakers Meet in Special Session To Consider Abortion Ban

Indiana protesters swarmed the statehouse after lawmakers reconvened on Monday to consider more restrictions on abortion, making it the first state to hold a special session with the goal of potentially enforcing an abortion ban after the Supreme Court's controversial majority decision.

A special Indiana General Assembly committee met and spent more than four hours on Monday discussing Senate Bill 1. The legislation would prohibit abortion unless the procedure was necessary to prevent a "substantial permanent impairment" to the life of the mother.

Indiana Abortion Rights

The bill, which was authored by the Republican Party, would also bar abortion clinics from performing surgical abortions and require in-person dispensation of an abortion-inducing drug used in a medication abortion. It includes exceptions in cases of rape or incest so long as the pregnant person provides the physician with an affidavit attesting to the rape or incest.

The state Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee meeting featured extensive public debate, with dozens of individuals, including doctors, faith leaders, and private citizens, voicing their opinions on the bill. Others opposed the legislation for the limitations it places on abortion while others opposed what they described as a vague language, as per CNN.

While many states across the United States have begun reviewing their laws after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Indiana is special because a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio crossed state lines to get an abortion in the region.

Currently, Indiana still allows abortion up to 20 weeks after fertilization (or 22 weeks after the mother's last menstrual period). Furthermore, last week, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the state to try to enforce a law that restricts access to abortion for minors that had been blocked by lower courts.

According to Politico, thousands of abortion rights protesters chanted outside the senate's doors, with repeated calls of "let them choose" and "vote them out" being heard from outside the chamber doors.

Abortion Rights Activists

Many of the protesters in Indiana were pro-abortion rights, outnumbering a small group of anti-abortion rights demonstrators who held signs outside the statehouse. Despite the protests, activists have little chance of changing the legislature's course, since the GOP controls both chambers with legislative supermajorities as well as the governor's office.

On Monday, state senators heard testimony from roughly 30 people, which is only about 10% of the 280 people who requested to speak. Before the session began, Vice President Kamala Harris was across the street and convened a roundtable of dozens of Democratic legislative and state leaders to condemn the GOP's sweeping ban on abortions.

In a statement, Harris said that she was there to support the extraordinary and courageous leaders. She argued that the abortion bans will effectively prohibit a woman from having access to reproductive healthcare that would allow her to choose what happens to her body.

Senate Republicans proposed to allocate $45 million in the coming year toward state agencies that "support the health of pregnant women, postpartum mothers, and infants" through pregnancy planning and access to contraception, especially among low-income families, the Associated Press reported.