A group of abortion rights supporters gathered in Bloomington Monday, on the eve of the near total abortion ban set to take effect in Indiana.
Read more: Indiana's near total abortion ban takes effect Aug. 1. Here's what you need to know
It was one of several gatherings across the state, held to protest the law.
Senator Shelli Yoder (D-Bloomington) spoke in Bloomington. She said the exemptions in Indiana’s ban are ambiguous and are meant to create confusion.
One of the exemptions allows for abortion if a pregnant person’s serious health or life are at risk, but the law doesn’t define the conditions or risks.
“I made some calls, talked with our attorneys at the statehouse," Yoder said. "And I was told: 'We do not know. The only people who will be able to figure this out will be the hospitals.’ The very people whose professions are being criminalized.”
The Indiana Supreme Court ruled in June that the ban doesn’t violate the state’s constitution.
But the court has yet to rule on a lawsuit which says the ban violates the state’s religious freedom law.
Amalia Shifriss with Hoosier Jews For Choice, one of the groups in the lawsuit, said it’s unclear if the injunction for religious freedom applies just to the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.
"Our lawyers at the ACLU are currently trying to get clarity from the judge because it would be really great if it applied to the whole class."
She said the hearing for the RFRA lawsuit is in December.
On Monday, the ACLU of Indiana filed a rehearing petition with the state Supreme court, which could pause the ban from going into effect.
