After steering clear from social issues for much of the first half of the legislative session, the Indiana House passed a bill that requires abortion providers to tell patients about a possible abortion reversal procedure Monday.
The procedure to reverse an abortion induced by medication was backed up by anecdotal evidence, but hasn't been scientifically proven to work. Those opposing the bill, including women who called themselves pro-life, worried about providing women with conflicting information.
"The claims of a medical reversal are not supported by a body of science…. It’s wrong," Rep. Linda Lawson, D- Hammond, said. "This bill seeks to dictate medical practice based on junk science. This is not true."
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A medical abortion requires patients to take two different medicines spread out over the course of a few days. In order to reverse the procedure, advocates of the bill say patients need to be given a high dose of progesterone before taking the second pill in the abortion process.
"We’re just saying you have the right to try," said Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn. "We’re not saying it’s going to work."
Lawmakers struggled to get the bill out of committee last week. The House Public Policy Committee passed House Bill 1128 7-6, before House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) sent the bill back to committee, citing several issues with the legislation. A main concern that the bill required abortion providers to use an ultrasound to determine the age of the fetus was removed from the legislation once it returned to committee.
The committee then passed the legislation for a second time by the same narrow vote.
On the floor those supporting the bill outnumbered those against, as the legislation passed 53-41.