Contact: Charity R. Clark, Chief of Staff, 802-828-3171
Attorney General T.J. Donovan joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief supporting a constitutional challenge to several Indiana laws that impose burdensome restrictions on abortion providers. The brief, filed in Whole Woman’s Health Alliance v. Rokita, argues that by limiting access to abortion, Indiana’s laws force women to travel to seek care, thereby increasing costs and making it more difficult for people to obtain important healthcare services. This brief is the third amicus brief filed by Attorney General Donovan since September 2021 in the ongoing fight against restrictive abortion laws.
“I will continue to defend the constitutional right to an abortion,” said Attorney General Donovan. “It is a woman’s right to make her own healthcare decisions, and the government should not be interfering.”
Indiana’s laws impose restrictions on abortion providers that are not imposed on other healthcare providers, including a requirement that only physicians can perform first-trimester medication abortions; a requirement that second-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center; a requirement that abortion providers make certain mandatory disclosures in-person to their patients at least 18 hours before performing abortions; and a ban on telemedicine to prescribe abortion-related medications.
In an earlier Court decision, the plaintiffs, including Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, obtained an injunction enjoining the enforcement of numerous Indiana abortion laws that unduly burden access to abortion care. The defendants are now appealing from that decision. In the brief, the coalition argue that the district court’s ruling is consistent with Supreme Court precedent and should be upheld. Citing testimony from a seven-day district court trial, the coalition argues that the court properly ruled that these laws create an undue burden for patients, especially low-income women.
Joining Attorney General Donovan in the brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.
A copy of the brief is available here.
Briefs filed in September 2021 are linked below: