INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana state Senate’s Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee passed Senate Bill 1 out of committee Tuesday. The bill restricts abortions in the state with a few narrow restrictions for rape, incest and to save the life of the mother.
Lawmakers voted 7-5 in favor of SB1, in a vote falling mostly along party lines.
The vote came after two days of testimony from Hoosiers. The lawmakers also added several amendments and discussed the bill amongst themselves.
Tuesday, some members of the committee said the bill is still imperfect.
"I want to make a bad bill less bad,” Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R-District 5) said.
The committee passed one amendment requiring rape victims to sign affidavits before receiving an abortion. Democratic senators also said they were concerned about privacy, because the amendment requires the affidavit be placed in the patient’s medical history.
Lawmakers also attached timelines to those procedures, saying abortions in the event of a rape must be performed before 12 weeks of pregnancy for people younger than 16, before eight weeks if older than 16.
"You're going tell this 16-year-old girl that she's got to do it within 12 weeks? How dare we,” Sen. Greg Taylor (D-District 33) said.
The senators passed another amendment requiring physicians to report when pregnancies are terminated because a fetus cannot survive.
Over the course of two days, senators heard hours of testimony. Almost every speaker opposed SB1, even those who spoke against abortion.
"If someone would have been there to tell me the emotional effect a man would experience, I think it would have impacted my choice to idly watch while our baby was aborted,” speaker John Pernell said of his former wife’s decision to have an abortion many years ago.
Other pro-life speakers said the bill was not restrictive enough. They said they want a bill without exceptions and some criticized it for being too vague.
"If I were to write a bill with the intention of having it not be enforced, SB 1 would be the one I would write. It is totally unenforceable, and as such, renders it basically worthless,” speaker Cathie Humbarger said.
Pro-choice advocates and doctors like Dr. Elizabeth Eglen said further restrictions would be devastating.
"As a doctor, and as a woman, I thought that was horrifying. I grew up in the Christian church, and I cannot understand how someone would advocate that in the name of God,” Eglen said of forcing rape victims to carry out pregnancies.
Others said the bill could have devastating impacts to the state, arguing young Hoosiers might choose to leave the state and find work elsewhere.
"I'm a lawyer and people come to me for legal advice, and I hope they listen to the legal advice I give, and they don't always do that. I look to doctors to tell me about medical advice, and I hope that people listen to their doctors when they need medical advice, not their government,” lawyer Tracy Betz said.
Before the vote, Democratic committee members made a final plea. Taylor was particularly emotional Tuesday, sharing a family member’s personal story of pregnancy.
"You're treading on very sensitive waters, and I hope you don't drown,” he warned.
Still, the senators voted to pass SB1 on to a second reading.
The reading and additional amendments are expected later this week. There would be a third and final reading and vote, before the Senate could pass SB1 on to the House for debate.
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