Indiana Abortionists Can Hide Whether They’re Breaking State Law

State   |   Indiana Right to Life   |   Feb 20, 2014   |   6:49PM   |   Indianapolis, IN

Senate Bill 292, a bill that would have required abortionists in Indiana to provide the Indiana State Department of Health with written verification that they either have hospital admitting privileges, or an agreement with a doctor who has local hospital admitting privileges, has died in the Indiana House controlled by a Republican supermajority.

Indiana Right to Life learned this afternoon that the bill, which passed the Indiana Senate earlier this month by a broad 34-14 margin, would die as a result of the bill failing to get a hearing in the Indiana House Public Policy Committee chaired by Rep. Tom Dermody (R – LaPorte).

picambulance4Indiana Right to Life President and CEO Mike Fichter issued this statement:

“Indiana Right to Life was asked to support language keeping admitting privileges information secret from the public, even from women at risk of complications after an abortion, by making the written documentation unavailable to public inspection.  The state has repeatedly displayed a failure to enforce the abortion laws already on the books, making public inspection absolutely necessary to insure that state laws are being met.  Transparency is the hallmark of good government, and that applies to doctors who do abortions as well as to the general public.

The failure of Senate Bill 292 in the Republican House means doctors doing abortions in Indiana will continue their operations without any written verification that they are abiding by state law. We are gravely disappointed that the Republicans could not get this job done in the House, and we are equally disappointed that Republicans repeatedly sought input on this bill from the state’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.”

Fichter points out that public inspection of state-required terminated pregnancy reports last year unveiled thousands of errors and omissions as well as multiple incidents in which child rape was not lawfully reported.  “If it were not for public inspection, none of these incidents would have been brought to light,” says Fichter. “The failure of Senate Bill 292 is a failure of open transparency.  The only persons benefiting from this bill’s defeat are the people operating Indiana’s abortion businesses.”