INDIANAPOLIS — The future of medication abortions across the country is unclear as is the future of all abortion in Indiana.
On Tuesday, two groups on opposite sides of the abortion debate held information sessions at IU’s McKinney School of Law.
An information session held by women in law and practicing doctors aimed to dispel misinformation surrounding abortions. At the same time, anti-abortion advocates held their own information session where they claimed medication abortions are dangerous.
"Abortion can harm women abortion can traumatize us," Mary Carmen Zakrajsek a member of Students for Life of America said.
Both sides disagree but due to a federal judge in Texas ruling to the suspend the approval of mifepristone law students on both sides of the debate decided to educate their peers about the topic.
Pro abortion rights advocates hope their information session dispelled false information as well as inform people about the consequences banning abortion could have.
"The law is meant to serve and empower and if our laws don't do that it's important to use our voices. It's important to pursue justice, " Maggie Mcmillan a Law Student at IU McKinney School of Law said.
Those that are anti-abortion wanted to host their own information session because they say the medication abortions are risky and bad for the environment.
"Letting it go back to the states, I think that was the greatest common ground we could find and then you vote what you want in your state and in Indiana we vote you know mostly that we don't want abortions and Illinois they want abortions, " Julia Barley a Law Student at IU McKinney School of Law who is pro-life said.
Those who consider themselves pro-abortion rights held what’s called a teach in with women who are practicing doctors and lawyers discussing facts around the procedure.
"This is about training students to engage in speech to seek out reliable information from reliable sources and to educate everyone about how to do that," Jennifer Drobac a Professor of Law at IU McKinney School of Law said.
In another part of the law school, anti-abortion rights students held an information session about the risks of medication abortion. Something they say is timely with the current legal challenges surrounding the abortion pill known as Mifepristone.
"We consider it a really big victory for women, for women’s health and for families and for these children that are being intentionally killed through the abortion pill so I don't think there is a better time to talk about this issue then now, " Zakrajsek said.
While both sides may never agree, they hope just discussing the topic of abortion can inform people about what both sides stand for.
"If we can't talk about the effects that infringement on women’s rights have we can't effectively be practitioners of the law," Mcmillan said.
"Ultimately I'd just love people to do their own research, you know, come up with your own opinion, don't let other people tell you what to believe, " Barley said.
Mifepristone is still legal in Indiana and so is abortion. The state is waiting on a ruling from the supreme court about the legality of a law passed by the Indiana general assembly that would mostly ban abortion in the state.
