The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Planned Parenthood [advocacy websites] of Indiana filed suit against the state of Indiana on Thursday, challenging [complaint, PDF] the constitutionality of a recently-signed abortion law [bill, PDF] that would prevent abortions sought due to genetic abnormalities. The ALCU and Planned Parenthood are also seeking an injunction on the law until after this lawsuit is settled. The advocacy groups argue that the woman, not the state should determine whether or not to obtain an abortion, and that the state of Indiana is invading privacy. The law bans a woman from receiving an abortion even in circumstances where it is medically determined that the fetus will not survive, but permits abortions for any reason in the first trimester. The law also mandates that the only way to dispose of an aborted fetus is through burial or cremation.

Abortion procedures and reproductive rights issues [JURIST backgrounder] are controversial topics throughout the US. In March a district court judge blocked [JURIST report] Arkansas from enforcing a bill mandating abortion pill providers follow US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) [official website] guidelines and requiring hospital admittance privileges to handle complications. Also in March, West Virginia lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto to enact a new law [JURIST report] that prevents the dilation and evacuation abortion procedure, widely held to be the safest second-trimester abortion method. Later that month, South Dakota passed a bill [JURIST report] that bans abortions after 20 weeks. In February the Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed [JURIST report] a lower court decision upholding a law that restricts use of medication abortion drugs. In November the US Supreme Court granted certiorari [JURIST report] to decide whether a Texas law, which requires that clinics have similar facilities to surgical center, posed an undue burden on the availability of abortion on the state.