The Indiana supreme court issued an order Wednesday that prevents the state from enforcing a Republican-backed abortion ban while it considers whether new abortion restrictions violate the state’s constitution.
The case went to the Indiana Supreme Court after a county judge blocked the ban last month.
It spurred a request from Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita to appeal the decision and ask the state’s top court to allow the law to take effect pending a court ruling.
The Indiana supreme court denied the attorney general’s request to set aside the preliminary injunction. But the judges did agree to set a hearing on the lawsuit filed by abortion clinic operators, scheduling oral arguments for January 12.
The Indiana abortion ban was the first anti-abortion bill to be signed after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, obliterating the constitutional right to an abortion.
It was approved by the Republican-dominated legislature on August 5 and signed by Republican Governor Eric Holcomb, making Indiana the first state to tighten restrictions after the fall of Roe.
The ban took effect on Sept. 15.
But it was quickly paused when a lower court judge issued a preliminary injunction a week later. The county judge said there was a reasonable likelihood that the “significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana constitution.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which is representing the abortion clinics, filed the lawsuit on August 31. It argued that the ban would “prohibit the overwhelming majority of abortions in Indiana and, as such, will have a devastating and irreparable impact on the plaintiffs and, more importantly, their patients and clients”.
It is now in the hands of the supreme court, which is made up of five members, all of whom were appointed by Republican governors.
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