House Republicans rebuffed Monday an attempt by Democrats to regulate private doctors who administer abortion-inducing drugs the same way abortion clinics are regulated.
A bill regulating the abortion-inducing drug known as RU-486 requires abortion clinics that only distribute the drug to adhere to stricter surgical abortion center requirements such as door and room size. A House Democratic amendment offered Monday would extend those same requirements to private physicians' offices if the doctors prescribe the drug.
But Rep. Sharon Negele (R-Attica), the bill's sponsor, says in 2011, no abortions occurred in a physician's office in Indiana.
"The consensus is it is extremely rare," she says. "[It] typically occurs at a hospital, mostly occurs at an actual abortion clinic."
The bill only affects one current Indiana location – a Lafayette Planned Parenthood clinic. Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) says the bill is inconsistent.
"Is this bill a targeted attack on a particular group providing services you don't like in an attempt to just hobble them?" he asks. "Or is this an attempt to address what you perceive to be a health care situation, a potential unsafe emergency situation?"
Other failed Democratic amendments would have added information that explains how to get free or low-cost contraception to the informed consent for abortion brochure and required men to receive an invasive penile ultrasound before obtaining erectile dysfunction drugs.