~ Herring joins 20 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief seeking to uphold a lower court’s ruling that blocked enforcement of many restrictive Indiana abortion laws ~

RICHMOND – Attorney General Mark R. Herring has filed an amicus brief supporting a constitutional challenge to several Indiana laws that impose burdensome restrictions on abortion providers. Attorney General Herring has joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in filing the amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7^th Circuit in Whole Woman’s Health Alliance v. Rokita, arguing that a lower court’s ruling that blocked enforcement of numerous Indiana abortion laws is consistent with Supreme Court precedent and should be upheld.

“Indiana’s unconstitutional abortion restrictions have placed an immense burden on the women in the state, as well as their healthcare providers and healthcare providers in neighboring states,” said Attorney General Herring. “Women across this country deserve the right to make their own decisions about their bodies and their reproductive health without their government putting unconstitutional restrictions on them. I will continue to stand with my colleagues in doing everything I can to protect a person’s constitutional right to an abortion.”

Indiana’s laws impose restrictions on abortion providers that are not imposed on other health care providers, including:

• A requirement that only physicians perform first-trimester medication abortions
• A requirement that second-trimester abortions be performed in a hospital or ambulatory surgical center
• A requirement that abortion providers make certain mandatory disclosures in-person to their patients at least 18 hours before performing abortions
• A ban on telemedicine to prescribe abortion-related medications

Citing testimony from a seven-day district court trial, Attorney General Herring and his colleagues argue that the court properly ruled that these laws create an undue burden for patients, especially low-income women. The attorneys general assert that by limiting access to abortion, Indiana’s laws force women to travel to seek care, thereby increasing costs and making it more difficult for people to obtain important health care services. 

Attorney General Herring has been a strong advocate for women’s healthcare and reproductive rights in Virginia. Over the past month, he has actively been fighting to block the blatantly unconstitutional Texas abortion ban. In September, Attorney General Herring led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in Planned Parenthood South Atlantic v. Wilson arguing that South Carolina’s six-week abortion ban harms women’s healthcare and a lower court’s ruling blocking the law should be upheld. He has stood against attacks on women’s reproductive freedom and has fought in court to defend women’s access to comprehensive healthcare services, including abortion and birth control. He issued an official advisory opinion that helped protect women’s health clinics from expensive and medically unnecessary retrofits that would have closed many Virginia clinics that offer abortion services. Attorney General Herring successfully fought alongside his colleagues in the Whole Women’s Health case to strike down Texas’s onerous, medically unnecessary regulations and he has fought for women’s reproductive justice around the country, working with colleagues to oppose medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion in Ohio and Alabama. Additionally, he continuously fought against the Trump Administration’s attacks on women’s access to the full range of reproductive health care services and contraception options.

Joining Attorney General Herring in filing today’s amicus brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington.

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