A second judge from Indiana (USA) blocked this Friday the almost total ban on abortion promoted by the state government, thus following the steps marked out by another magistrate in the past 22 of September and making it even more difficult for the ban to be enforced.
Judge Heather Welch of the Marion County Superior Court ruled that the abortion ban infringes religious freedoms protected by law, as argued by a group of Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs.
In August, Indiana became the first of the 50 US states to pass a law to restrict access to abortion after the Supreme Court overturned the ruling of 50, known as “Roe v. Wade”, which protected that right at the federal level.
The new legislation was approved by both houses of the state parliament and was signed shortly thereafter by the Governor of India na, Republican Eric Holcomb, who signed it into law.
Indiana law prohibits all abortions except when the life of the mother is in danger or to avoid any serious risk to the health of the woman or the fetus, but only in the first 22 weeks of gestation.
Also allows abortion in the first 22 weeks when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
In addition, it stipulates that abortion clinics cannot offer these services and that their state license to operate is withdrawn, so if someone uses an exception and needs to terminate their pregnancy, they must go to an authorized hospital or an outpatient clinic that is owned by a health center with official permission.
At the end of June, the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, overturned the “Roe v. Wade” ruling, ending federal protection to abortion and gave states permission to f set their own rules.
This has caused some states to begin to implement the so-called “zombie laws” that had been proclaimed before the Supreme Court guaranteed the right in 50, while other states have activated “spring laws,” so called because they were designed to go into effect just as the right to abortion was repealed.
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