From: The Pro-Life Infonet <infonet@prolifeinfo.org

Subject: Indiana Abortion Advocates Will Appeal Right to Know Decision

Source: Indianapolis Star-News; September 26, 2002

Indiana Abortion Advocates Will Appeal Right to Know Decision

Indianapolis, IN -- Attorneys for abortion practitioners want to ask all 11 appeals court judges in Chicago to hear their arguments against a pro-life Indiana law that provides women with information about abortion risks, alternatives and fetal development prior to having an abortion.

A three-judge panel of the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last week revived the law by overturning an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge David Hamilton in March 2001.

Ken Falk, attorney for the pro-abortion Indiana Civil Liberties Union, said the petition for the full hearing will be filed by Monday.

When that petition is filed, it also triggers a continued "stay" -- meaning the law's requirements continue to be put on hold, Falk said. So for now, women will not receive unbiased information about abortion from the abortion facility which may prompt them change their minds.

 "The information required by Indiana law is basic, common sense information that any woman seeking an abortion has a right to know, and there is no other way to deliver this information properly than by face-to-face interaction," Indiana Right to Life executive director Mike Fichter explained.

Similar laws in other states have significantly reduced the number of abortions.

 There's no way to predict when the appeals court will decide whether to grant or deny a full hearing or when that hearing would be. If it is denied, attorneys for the abortion facilities that challenged the law also would have to decide whether to seek a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Seven abortion facilities and an abortion practitioner challenged the law in federal court, saying it violates women's civil rights. The abortion businessess are in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and South Bend.

Hamilton agreed the law placed an "undue burden" on women and would prevent 10 percent to 13 percent of Indiana women from getting abortions. The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 12,443 legal abortions were performed in Indiana in 1998.

The Indiana attorney general's office has not been informed of the ICLU request, a spokeswoman said.

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