Law professor, organization leader react following Supreme Court abortion order

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Supreme Court will now decide the fate of Indiana’s near-total ban on abortion.

The high court agreed on Wednesday to take up the case and for now, keep the abortion ban law from being enforced.

Read the order from the Indiana Supreme Court stating the case will skip the Court of Appeals and head directly to their desks.

The move to skip the Court of Appeals was at the request of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.

Indiana University Law Professor Jennifer Drobac spoke about the move – which she considers to be historic.

“I thought it was historic that an Indiana district court judge and a Republican judge would come out with the type of reasoning that our founding fathers would have found really admirable,” Drobac said. “That is we all were born with liberty and a sense of bodily autonomy and that's what we believe in in our country.”

For those fighting for the law to be reinstated as soon as possible, the move to skip the Court of Appeals is both good and bad.

“We're grateful they granted the request to bypass the appeals because this will ensure the case will be heard sooner, which will hopefully result the ban being implemented again,” Melanie Garcia-Lyons, Executive Director of Voice For Life, said. “(Thought) the Supreme Court did decline the attorney general's request for an injunction to remove the suspension of the ban which is very disappointing for us.”

“It looks like it’s going to be another winter of outreach to women in need, which we are definitely prepared to do, but disappointed of the lives that will be lost as a result of this decision,” Garcia-Lyons said.

It was in August when state lawmakers passed the legislation banning abortions with exceptions for rape, incest and the life and health of the mother.

Soon after, several reproductive rights groups filed suit to block the law from taking place.

Judge Kelsey Hanlon blocked the law from being enforced, saying "there is reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution"

The Supreme Court will decide what happens next after it hears oral arguments in mid-January.