Abortion Bill Moves Forward – American Family Association of Indiana
Abortion Bill Moves Forward
A little over an hour ago, the Indiana House wrapped up debate on floor amendments to Senate Bill 1. There were 86 amendments filed on the bill, but only one, perhaps two, were adopted.
The bill will be voted on for a final vote in the House tomorrow. I expect it will pass with over 60 votes.
The bill then goes to the Senate next week to review House changes. The Senate has two options. They can “concur” or agree with the changes and the bill will move on to the Governor’s desk. The Senate could “dissent” or disagree with the changes and send the bill to a conference committee which is a joint House and Senate committee where they negotiate over changes. There would then be another House and Senate vote on the conference committee report. If passed by both chambers the revised bill would go to the Governor.
There was some good debate today, but the only substantive change was a tightening of the life of the mother exception language. That is a good thing.
However, as I talk with a lot of legislators and pro-life and pro-family leaders there is a lot of confusion over Senate Bill 1. It reminds me a lot of the bill on Critical Race Theory. Leadership in that case, and this one, crafted a bill on their own, outside the participation of leaders supporting those measures, and what we were left with was a poorly written mess of a bill. In the case of the CRT bill, it ultimately died in part for a lack of support from those who wanted a meaningful bill. Perhaps that was by design. In the case of Senate Bill 1, we also have a far from perfect bill with serious enforcement and loophole questions. But I think this bill will likely make it through the process.
So pro-life leaders are left with a bill they never designed, written in ways they do not like, but with the urgent desire to protect unborn children they have held for nearly 50 years.
I do not know how to advise the followers of the American Family Association of Indiana, but to ask that you pray for this legislation and actions next week. Pray that this bill can accomplish what it appears to seek to do. It will not end all abortions, but it might end 80% or more. (It does seem to remove the licenses from all abortion clinics, but it expands abortions in hospitals.) I don’t think anyone knows for sure how well the bill will be implemented. We do know that the abortion industry will try to exploit every hole in the bill.
It might be possible to have Senate Bill 1 as a basis to work from and return to fix in the regular session of the General Assembly. If this bill makes it to the Governor in its current form, the legislative battle over life is probably not over, but it may be different than before.
Some life advocates oppose all exceptions for abortion. In the Senate, there were only 18 Senators who voted to remove rape and incest as an exception. There was an amendment on this today in the House. It received only 39 votes.
It has been the position of AFA-IN that if there are rape and incest exceptions, there needs to be a police report filed, as this is a serious crime that deserves punishment. SB 1 does not do this.
I should say that consensus on this bill is lacking among life experts. It is a very complex bill. (Some have called it deceptive.) I don’t know of any pro-life leader who is truly happy with this bill, but many of us are hopeful that it will save thousands of lives.
The Senate vote to agree with the House (or not agree) could be very close, as this bill passed by only a 1 vote margin in that chamber. There is still a lot to watch play out tomorrow and next week.
I want to thank everyone who contacted their legislators with their views on this important matter.
