(LifeSiteNews) – Seventeen abortions were committed in Indiana during the roughly six-week period after a new law limiting abortion on demand went into effect in mid-August, according to a recently released report from the state health department.
The law completely went into effect in mid-August, but abortion facilities began complying on August 1, “due to legal uncertainty,” according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. The think tank previously estimated there were zero abortions committed in August. Indiana began collecting data on the reasons for abortion on August 21.
The quarterly “Terminated Pregnancy Report” from the Indiana Department of Health covers July through September 30, 2023. The law allows babies conceived in rape or incest to be aborted up to 10 weeks, and abortions for “substantial and irreversible physical impairment” of the mother’s health. Preborn babies can be killed if they might “[suffer] from an irremediable medical condition that is incompatible with sustained life outside the womb” up to 20 weeks.
The “health” exception specifically excludes the broad “psychological or emotional” carveout. “A medical condition may not be determined to exist based on a claim or diagnosis that the woman will engage in conduct that she intends to result in her death or in physical harm.”
The law also bans abortion facilities, leaving only hospitals to kill unborn babies.
One of the abortions during the time period from August 21 to September 30 was due to “rape/incest,” according to the report. Nine were for “lethal fetal anomaly” and seven were for “serious health risk/life of the pregnant woman.”
In total, 764 abortions were reported for the period July 1 through September 30. This is about 25 percent of the amount normally reported for the same time period in past years.
The decrease in reported abortions cannot fully capture other circumstances, such as women who traveled to nearby Illinois and Michigan for abortions. The reported abortions also don’t include self-induced, at-home abortions committed with abortion pills purchased online from out-of-state or out of the country.
President Joe Biden has sought to make dangerous abortion drugs widely available online and through pharmacies, despite a federal law which bars the mailing of abortion pills.
The legislation passed over reservations from Indiana Right to Life, due to the exceptions granted for rape, incest, and alleged “lethal fatal anomaly.”
While the law includes exceptions, pro-lifers stress that a baby’s inherent human dignity and right to life does not come from the circumstances of his or her conception. Medical experts have also confirmed that direct abortion is never medically necessary.
On the other hand, recent data show that birth rates have risen in states that have restricted abortion since the reversal of Roe v. Wade and that many women in those states likely have not resorted to “self-managed” abortions, such as with illegal pills.
Catholic University of America Professor Dr. Michael New, an expert on pro-life polling and data, has also challenged the claim that abortion drugs cancel out the effectiveness of restrictions on abortion.
Pro-life pregnancy centers have also continued to provide material resources and educational services to assist pregnant moms and families. A recent report estimated that pregnancy resource centers provided nearly $360 million worth of goods and services in 2022, including not just free diapers and clothes, but also ultrasounds, car seats, and parenting classes.