Indiana abortion activists filed a new lawsuit Monday challenging a state law that requires abortion facilities to bury or cremate the remains of aborted babies.
The lawsuit seems unlikely to succeed, given that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the law in 2019, but abortion activists are taking a new approach this time by accusing the state of forcing a specific belief on women.
The Indy Star reports the parties in the lawsuit include three anonymous women and the Women’s Med Group, an Indianapolis abortion facility.
They claim the state of Indiana is forcing its beliefs about personhood on women who may disagree, according to the report. Lawyer Stephanie Toti who is involved in the lawsuit told the newspaper that the law “trample[s] on everyone’s beliefs” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“These laws also send the unmistakable message that someone who has had an abortion or miscarriage is responsible for the death of a person,” the lawsuit states. “As a result, they have caused many abortion and miscarriage patients, including Jane Doe Nos. 1, 2, and 3, to experience shame, stigma, anguish, and anger.”
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill told the newspaper that he is confident Indiana will win in court again.
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“We took our fight for Indiana’s law on the disposition of fetal remains all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and we won,” Hill said in a statement. “We are now reviewing this latest lawsuit, but I can tell you now that we will once again defend humanity, and I am quite confident that Indiana’s law will continue to stand strong.”
In 2019, the Supreme Court rejected arguments that the law imposed an undue burden on women’s access to abortion. The justices said states have a legitimate interest in regulating how the remains of aborted babies are disposed.
The Indiana law establishes rules as to how abortion facilities must dispose of aborted babies. It allows the mother to choose a different method at her own expense (i.e. burial). According to court testimony, the Indianapolis Planned Parenthood facility was disposing of aborted babies down a drain into the sewer system prior to the law going into effect.
The law ensures all medical facilities, including abortion facilities, appropriately dispose of the bodies of babies killed in abortions. It also helps to prevent abortion facilities from selling aborted babies or improperly disposing of their bodies.
A gruesome discovery inside a late Indiana abortionist’s garage in 2019 further demonstrated the need for such laws. In September 2019, authorities found 2,246 medically preserved remains of aborted babies stored in boxes in the former Indiana abortionist Ulrich Klopfer’s garage in Illinois. A few weeks later, they found 165 more babies’ remains in a vehicle stored on one of his properties. Klopfer’s family reported finding the remains shortly after he died Sept. 3.
Attorney General Hill, who is pro-life, investigated the discoveries and later organized a burial for the babies. His office said poor record-keeping and the disintegration of the babies’ bodies made it impossible for each baby to be identified.
The Ohio legislature just passed a similar law this month requiring the dignified burial or cremation of aborted babies.
