Abortion activists launched two more massive lawsuits this week in Indiana and Virginia that could strike down almost every pro-life law in the country.
The lawsuits follow one filed in Texas earlier this week that aims to overturn dozens of common-sense abortion laws, including parental involvement for minors and requirements that abortion clinics meet basic health and safety standards.
The leading group behind the lawsuits is Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, a Texas-based abortion chain notorious for dozens of health and safety violations. It argues that these abortion regulations impose “medically unnecessary burdens on patients,” and “have led clinics to be shut down,” according to The Hill.
The abortion industry is hopeful for a second victory after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a series of Texas abortion clinic regulations in 2016.
“The Whole Woman’s Health Supreme Court victory was game-changing — affirming that abortion laws must be based on medical evidence,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, owner of Whole Woman’s Health, told the Washington Post. “We’re using this new standard to challenge dozens of other restrictions, some dating back decades, that are based on ideology, not health or science.”
Among the dozens of laws being challenged in Virginia, Indiana and Texas are parental consent, informed consent and waiting period regulations, as well as a requirement that doctors perform abortions. Abortion clinic regulations also are being challenged. Some of these pro-life laws are decades old.
Olivia Gans Turner, president of the Virginia Society for Human Life, said the lawsuit is about protecting the abortion industry, not women.
“Pro-abortion forces are trying to undermine the authority of the legislature’s right to pass important pro-life measures like these,” Gans Turner said. “In the end, this is all about providing cover to abortionists and has nothing to do with protecting women or their unborn children.”
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Mike Fichter, president and CEO of Indiana Right to Life, echoed these words, saying the abortion industry cares “more about profits than the women they claim to serve.”
“WWHA has made no secret it is repulsed by Indiana’s abortion laws,” Fichter said. “We believe this is why WWHA came to Indiana – to gain standing in order to dismantle every meaningful abortion law in the wake of Hellerstedt, WWHA’s Supreme Court victory.”
The abortion chain is trying to open a facility in Indiana. In January, state health officials rejected its application based on “inaccurate statements and information,” but the abortion chain is appealing.
The pro-abortion groups told Politico they want to file the lawsuit while the five U.S. Supreme Court justices who previously ruled in their favor are still on the bench.
Joining the abortion chain in the Virginia lawsuit are the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Virginia. In the Indiana lawsuit, the other plaintiffs are the All-Options Pregnancy Resource Center and Dr. Jeffrey Glazer, medical director of the proposed abortion clinic in South Bend. And in Texas, other plaintiffs include Fund Texas Choice, the Lilith Fund, North Texas Equal Access Fund, The Afiya Center, West Fund and Dr. Bhavik Kumar.
