MERRILLVILLE, Indiana — As Republican senators held a press conference Wednesday to announced an abortion bill, Jody Madeira, professor of law at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University Bloomington, said her first reaction was confusion.
The press conference — led by Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, and Senator Sue Glick, R-LaGrange — started with what seemed like a celebration “almost as if there’s relief about this bill,” because they highlighted that the bill doesn’t criminalize doctors and women, exempts ectopic pregnancies and nonviable pregnancies, and that reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization won’t be impacted, Madeira said.
But, it didn’t take long for Madeira to realize that the bill is “actually terribly restrictive,” because it does not list a gestational cut off for abortion. The legislature will meet Monday to begin discussing the bill during a special session, which could last through mid-August.
