(no subject)
Sorry for the lack of updates. The good news is that there's not TOO much bad stuff to report. 2 of 3 anti-choice bills died in the Senate, and none were heard in the House. Below is a decent article from the Star about one of the bills that died.
Birth-control debate sinks abortion bill
Legislation would have made state's law one of the strictest in the country
By Bill Ruthhart
bill.ruthhart@indystar.com
A debate over the definition of contraceptives has killed a bill that would have made Indiana abortion law among the strictest in the nation.
As originally proposed, Senate Bill 135 would have required Indiana doctors to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the fetus might feel pain and that life begins at conception.
But, while the bill was in committee, a sentence was inserted that defined contraception as the "use of a drug or device that has been approved to prevent pregnancy by the Federal Food and Drug Administration."
The federal government has defined contraception as anything that prevents pregnancy before a fertilized egg can attach itself to the uterine wall.
Indiana Right to Life and conservative Senate Republicans argue that life begins sooner -- at conception -- and that contraceptives should be defined as drugs and devices that prevent fertilization.
That difference became significant after Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, persuaded a Senate health committee to include the federal definition of contraception in SB 135.
The change was opposed by the bill's author, Sen. Patricia L. Miller, R-Indianapolis, but she nonetheless agreed to it because the legislation would not have made it out of committee without the contraception language.
Miller's only other option was to try to gather enough votes in the full Senate to remove the contraception provision from the legislation. This week, she realized she didn't have enough votes from fellow Republicans to do so.
"We didn't seem to be able to get a consensus," Miller said. "The more I tried to work it out, the more complicated it got, so I decided the best thing to do for now was to not move the bill."
The legislation's death marks a major victory for Planned Parenthood of Indiana, which had lobbied aggressively against the bill.
"They just keep trying to force this religious dogma down the throats of a public that does not believe in it," said Betty Cockrum, the group's president and chief executive officer.
"We were pleased to see this bill go away."
Mike Fichter, executive director of Indiana Right to Life, called Simpson's contraception language "outrageous and completely unacceptable."
"It's discouraging, because the real intent of this bill was to safeguard a woman's right to have full information about fetal pain," Fichter said. "By inserting this language, they have undercut a woman's ability to be fully informed on this issue."
As of last year, just four states had passed fetal-pain legislation, while only South Dakota had required doctors to tell abortion patients that life begins at conception.
Senate President Pro Tempore David C. Long, R-Fort Wayne, said the contraception and abortion issues should be handled independently.
"I would have liked to see this bill move forward," he said. "The contraceptive issue is a separate issue."
Simpson disagreed.
"They are the same issue," she said. "When you start talking about when life begins in the abortion statutes, then you put women who use birth control into a situation where they may have created an abortion.
"I wanted to make sure that this abortion statute would never conflict with our access to contraceptives. That's all I was trying to do."
Fichter said he believed Simpson's motive was to kill the abortion requirements.
"This really was a sneaky attempt to redefine what contraception is in Indiana by covering what are abortion-causing drugs," he said.
"This issue could have been handled in a separate bill, but by choosing to do this, Senator Simpson has torpedoed this legislation, so another year will go by in which Indiana women will be counseled on abortion without having factual information about the child's ability to feel pain."
In the future, Fichter said, Right to Life will have to court the votes of moderate Republicans to move its abortion initiatives through the Senate.
Cockrum vowed to fight that effort.
"If their idea of educating moderate Republicans is to get them to accept lies about medicine and how birth control works, they are doing all of Indiana a disservice," she said. "We hope the lawmakers are smart enough to never let that happen."
Birth-control debate sinks abortion bill
Legislation would have made state's law one of the strictest in the country
By Bill Ruthhart
bill.ruthhart@indystar.com
A debate over the definition of contraceptives has killed a bill that would have made Indiana abortion law among the strictest in the nation.
As originally proposed, Senate Bill 135 would have required Indiana doctors to tell a woman seeking an abortion that the fetus might feel pain and that life begins at conception.
But, while the bill was in committee, a sentence was inserted that defined contraception as the "use of a drug or device that has been approved to prevent pregnancy by the Federal Food and Drug Administration."
The federal government has defined contraception as anything that prevents pregnancy before a fertilized egg can attach itself to the uterine wall.
Indiana Right to Life and conservative Senate Republicans argue that life begins sooner -- at conception -- and that contraceptives should be defined as drugs and devices that prevent fertilization.
That difference became significant after Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, persuaded a Senate health committee to include the federal definition of contraception in SB 135.
The change was opposed by the bill's author, Sen. Patricia L. Miller, R-Indianapolis, but she nonetheless agreed to it because the legislation would not have made it out of committee without the contraception language.
Miller's only other option was to try to gather enough votes in the full Senate to remove the contraception provision from the legislation. This week, she realized she didn't have enough votes from fellow Republicans to do so.
"We didn't seem to be able to get a consensus," Miller said. "The more I tried to work it out, the more complicated it got, so I decided the best thing to do for now was to not move the bill."
The legislation's death marks a major victory for Planned Parenthood of Indiana, which had lobbied aggressively against the bill.
"They just keep trying to force this religious dogma down the throats of a public that does not believe in it," said Betty Cockrum, the group's president and chief executive officer.
"We were pleased to see this bill go away."
Mike Fichter, executive director of Indiana Right to Life, called Simpson's contraception language "outrageous and completely unacceptable."
"It's discouraging, because the real intent of this bill was to safeguard a woman's right to have full information about fetal pain," Fichter said. "By inserting this language, they have undercut a woman's ability to be fully informed on this issue."
As of last year, just four states had passed fetal-pain legislation, while only South Dakota had required doctors to tell abortion patients that life begins at conception.
Senate President Pro Tempore David C. Long, R-Fort Wayne, said the contraception and abortion issues should be handled independently.
"I would have liked to see this bill move forward," he said. "The contraceptive issue is a separate issue."
Simpson disagreed.
"They are the same issue," she said. "When you start talking about when life begins in the abortion statutes, then you put women who use birth control into a situation where they may have created an abortion.
"I wanted to make sure that this abortion statute would never conflict with our access to contraceptives. That's all I was trying to do."
Fichter said he believed Simpson's motive was to kill the abortion requirements.
"This really was a sneaky attempt to redefine what contraception is in Indiana by covering what are abortion-causing drugs," he said.
"This issue could have been handled in a separate bill, but by choosing to do this, Senator Simpson has torpedoed this legislation, so another year will go by in which Indiana women will be counseled on abortion without having factual information about the child's ability to feel pain."
In the future, Fichter said, Right to Life will have to court the votes of moderate Republicans to move its abortion initiatives through the Senate.
Cockrum vowed to fight that effort.
"If their idea of educating moderate Republicans is to get them to accept lies about medicine and how birth control works, they are doing all of Indiana a disservice," she said. "We hope the lawmakers are smart enough to never let that happen."