Appeals Court Rules Againast Indiana Law Protecting Teens From Abortions

A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down an Indiana law that sought to protect teen girls by requiring parental consent or court approval before info about out of state abortions could be promoted to pregnant teens.

Indiana currently protects unborn babies and women by banning abortions.

The three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court injunction against the state’s “aid-or-assist” statute, ruling that it violates the First Amendment as a content- and viewpoint-based restriction on speech. The law, enacted before Indiana’s abortion ban and the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, had never been enforced due to earlier court blocks.

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U.S. Circuit Judge David Hamilton, an abortion activist who has struck down multiple pro-life laws over the years, in writing for the majority, said the statute prohibits speech that aids a minor in obtaining an abortion without specific parental consent while allowing other speech on the same topic.

“The aid-or-assist law is not viewpoint-neutral,” Hamilton wrote. “It prohibits speech to the extent that it aids an unemancipated minor in obtaining an abortion without specific parental consent. In doing so, the statute as applied to plaintiff prohibits speech of the view that an unemancipated minor would benefit, for a variety of reasons, from the information or referrals shared, while permitting speech with the opposite viewpoint.”

In a concurrence, U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Scudder agreed the law could not stand under the First Amendment but criticized the majority for undervaluing the state’s interest.

“In my respectful view, however, today’s decision reaches this conclusion on reasoning that undervalues Indiana’s compelling interest in keeping parents involved in every stage of a minor’s decision about whether to get an abortion,” Scudder wrote. “The majority’s narrow tailoring analysis also misses the mark by finding too much fault with the means Indiana chose to ensure parental involvement in such a grave and consequential decision.”

The law had been challenged by Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky before it could take effect in 2017.

State attorneys had argued the measure regulated conduct rather than speech, but the panel rejected that view.