Indiana’s attorney general is asking federal judges to lift orders blocking several state anti-abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to end constitutional protection for abortion.
An appeal of one of those blocked Indiana laws aimed at prohibiting abortions based on gender, race or disability was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019. But that was before former President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett strengthened the court’s conservative majority.
Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office asked in court filings Monday that federal judges lift injunctions against that law, along with others banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure that the legislation calls a “dismemberment abortion” and requiring parents be notified if a court allows a girl younger than 18 to get abortion without parental consent.
The office argued that after last week’s Supreme Court ruling those challenging the laws “can claim no constitutional right to an abortion.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which initially challenged these laws, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Indiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature is expected to consider tightening the state’s abortion restrictions during a special legislative session scheduled to begin July 6 and last up to 40 days.