Deeply Flawed Bill is a “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”

WASHINGTON— National Right to Life joins with its Indiana affiliate, Indiana Right to Life, in opposing SB 1.

“Indiana’s SB 1 is a complete disaster of a bill,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “It would fail, in a spectacular way, to protect any human lives and instead would leave women vulnerable to an industry that preys upon women.”

SB 1 was drafted without consultation from any state, local or national pro-life group or expert. Instead, SB 1 was drafted with the advice from organizations and experts who have made abortion on demand part of their mission.

Accordingly, National Right to Life and Indiana Right to Life oppose the bill for several reasons, including:

• SB 1 removes all criminal penalties from, and provides complete immunity for, illegal abortions consented to by pregnant women, except for partial-birth abortions, D & E abortions, and abortions performed without informed consent.
• SB 1 does not require the consent of a woman for an abortion to save the life of the mother. Thus, the physician can abort the child even if the mother objects and wants to carry the baby.
• SB 1 explicitly recognizes, legalizes, and facilitates chemical abortion clinics throughout Indiana by authorizing abortion-inducing drugs to flood the state. The bill facilitates their use through the licensing of current and future chemical abortion clinics throughout the state.

According to James Bopp, Jr., General Counsel for NRLC, “A careful legal examination of SB 1 reveals that, in nearly every provision, SB 1 uses defective language, lack of necessary safeguards, and lack of any effective enforcement mechanism that it results in abortion on demand.”

“The bill is so poorly drafted, it would do the complete opposite of what it claims to do,” said Tobias. “The bill would facilitate and support abortion on demand, leave women exposed to harm without any legal recourse, and establish abortion facilities throughout the state.”

Tobias continued, “The pro-life movement denounces this bill for what it is—a wolf in sheep’s clothing designed to expand abortion on demand in the state of Indiana.”

For a legal analysis of SB1 from National Right to Life and Indiana Right to Life’s general counsel, click here.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.