The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Monday reversed a preliminary injunction previously implemented to bar the enforcement of an Indiana law requiring fetal remains to be either buried or cremated by clinics that provide abortion. The ruling reverses a September district court decision which barred enforcement of a series of provisions of Title 16 of the Indiana Code, known collectively as the “Tissue Disposition Laws” or House Bill 1337.

The laws require that only abortion providers either bury or cremate fetal remains. People who undergo abortions can choose to take custody of the remains and dispose of them on their own accord. The appellate court ruled that the mandate is not unconstitutional, as was argued in the initial lawsuit filed in 2020 by healthcare provider Women’s Med Group and three of its patients. The plaintiffs contend that the mandate violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Circuit Judge Easterbrook wrote, “Indiana does not require any woman who has obtained an abortion to violate any belief religious or secular” because the requirement only applies to clinics that provide abortions and does not apply to individuals. The court also ruled that, because the original lawsuit was not a class action, the district court could have provided relief to the plaintiffs by barring the application of the statute to them as individuals, rather than barring state officials from applying the statute to anyone. The appellate court stated that the district court’s overall bar “treats the statute as invalid across the board,” rather than as it is applied to individual cases, which the appellate court contends should be the method of application.