Indiana Sex-Selective and Disability Abortion Ban (HB 1228)

Sex-Selection and Disability Ban

HB 1228 would have prohibited a person from performing or attempting to perform an abortion if the person knows that the pregnant woman is seeking an abortion because of the sex of the fetus or a diagnosis or potential diagnosis of Down Syndrome or any other disability.

The term “any other disability” includes: a mental disability or retardation; a physical disfigurement; Scoliosis; Dwarfism; Down syndrome; Albinism; Amelia; and physical or mental disease.

A violation of the provision would have been a Level 5 felony.

Informed Consent

The law would have also amended Indiana’s informed consent law (Indiana Code § 16-34-2-1.1) to require that the physician who is to perform the abortion inform the pregnant woman that Indiana law does not allow a fetus to be aborted solely because of its sex or potential disability diagnosis.

Parental Consent

The law also would have amended Indiana’s parental consent law (Indiana Code § 16-34-2-4) to require that government-issued proof of identification and written documentation establishing identity be provided by the consenting parent or legal guardian to the physician. The physician would have been required to: (1) maintain the information in the minor pregnant woman’s medical records; and (2) sign an affidavit concerning the documents.

STATUS

Died in Committee.

Similar to SB 334, except that SB 334 does not contain the parental consent provision.

This bill is similar to HB 1430, which failed to pass in 2013, except that HB 1430 included a race-selection ban (which HB 1228 does not) and did not include a disability ban or parental consent provisions  (which HB 1228 does.)

 

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