Indiana providers are allowed to point pregnant minors to out-of-state abortion services without fear of retribution.
A U.S. Appeals Court found this week that factual information about abortions, including referrals, is protected by the First Amendment.
The court for the Seventh Circuit ruled on a 2017 state law requiring that doctors receive parental consent before discussing abortion options with a minor. Portions of Indiana’s “aid and assist” law stayed in limbo even after the passage of the state’s near-total abortion ban in 2022.
In 2024, the U.S. district court serving southern Indiana initially ruled that prohibiting abortion conversations between doctors and minors violated the First Amendment, but Indiana appealed that decision.
Tuesday’s finding by the Appeals Court affirms that 2024 ruling.
Colleen McNicholas is the chief clinical transformation officer with Planned Parenthood. She said the decision reassures doctors that they can talk about abortion services.
“In this case, it is for minors who are just seeking information about how to access abortion care, even if they can't get it in the state lines,” McNicholas said.
In court, Planned Parenthood argued that even though their doctors do advise minor patients to discuss abortion access with their parents, “some of those minor patients, however, express fears of being kicked out of their homes or being abused or punished by their parents or legal guardians because of their pregnancies.”
The court’s decision comes as Indiana lawmakers have worked to close a number of perceived loopholes in Indiana’s near-total abortion law, including access to abortion inducing drugs through the mail.
Indiana’s Attorney General Todd Rokita has also pursued a number of ways to limit access to abortion inducing drugs like mifepristone, calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to put restrictions on the drug because it could pose a risk in the water supply. Those are claims some experts have called “ridiculous.”
McNicholas with Planned Parenthood said this ruling does not supersede the state’s abortion ban. Providers can not tell patients how to get abortion drugs through the mail but can point to states where abortion services are legal. That’s because assisting a patient in performing an abortion within the state would still be illegal.
“Lots of people have access to the internet and have found additional information about how to access medication abortion by mail within state lines, but this decision does not allow us to provide that information to folks,” McNicholas said. “It specifically states that we are protected in giving patients information about how to access legal abortion, which, as you know, is restricted now to the surrounding states.”
McNicholas said last year some 10,000 Indiana residents sought abortion services out of state. She said the court’s ruling will ultimately help doctors do their job.
“We do feel like this is a permanent injunction that allows us to freely practice and provide education to minors in ways that we think are medically appropriate and accurate,” she said.
The Indiana Attorney General’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org
