Two Hoosier doctors sue to keep Indiana abortion records confidential

However, inspired by a Braun executive order, Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita last week agreed the state should release TPRs to South Bend-based Voices for Life to settle a lawsuit filed last year by the anti-abortion organization after their request for TPRs was denied.

The doctors are asking the judge to reaffirm the confidentiality of TPRs under both state and federal law, prohibit their dissemination, and order Voices for Life to return or destroy any TPRs the group may already have received.

"Everyone receiving medical care deserves to have their personal health decisions and pregnancy outcomes protected. There is no reason to release this sensitive information to the public. We will keep fighting to protect patient privacy and the trust between doctors and patients," Bernard and Rouse said.

Rokita, on the other hand, contends TPRs deserve to be publicly released so organizations like Voices for Life can evaluate whether Indiana abortion providers are complying with state law.

Indiana's near-total abortion ban, Senate Enrolled Act 1 (2022), mandates hospitals collect and report to the state more than 30 categories of data on each abortion, including demographic information on the patient, characteristics of the pregnancy, the legal justification for the abortion and details about the doctor who performed the abortion.

TPRs do not contain an abortion patient's name. But state officials previously concluded such voluminous data on the now-tiny number of Indiana abortions could be reverse-engineered to identify specific women who obtained an abortion, especially in smaller communities, and therefore must remain confidential.