INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s deeply divided House of Representatives voted Thursday to keep rape or incest exemptions in a bill that would ban nearly all abortions in the state.
The Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted 61-39 against an amendment that would have removed those exemptions, with a majority of GOP members calling for them to be removed.
The House vote showed a similar split among Republicans seen in the state Senate over rape and incest exemptions, which remained in the bill after a Senate attempt last week also failed to remove those exemptions.
Republican Rep. Karen Engleman sponsored the amendment, arguing that even a child conceived in rape or incest deserves a chance at life.
“The intentional termination of human life has no place in the practice of medicine,” Engleman said.
The Indiana proposal comes after a political firestorm surrounding a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to the state from neighboring Ohio to terminate her pregnancy. The case drew widespread attention when an Indianapolis doctor said the child must travel to Indiana because a new Ohio law prohibits abortions if a heartbeat can be detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy.
Democratic lawmakers questioned Engleman about whether that girl’s abortion would be banned if her amendment passed. Engleman, who said she had a child as an unmarried teenager, responded that doctors can still determine whether a pregnancy is life-threatening for a young girl.
Republican leadership said earlier this week that it supports exemptions in cases of rape and incest. House Republican Speaker Todd Houston and GOP Rep. Wendy McNamara of Evansville, who sponsored the House bill, said Monday they support allowing those exemptions.
McNamara said Monday that the law should be “honest to those people who have experienced trauma in rape and incest situations.”
While 39 House Republicans voted Thursday to remove the rape or incest exemptions from the bill, 32 Republicans joined all 29 House Democrats in keeping them in the bill. With likely united Democratic opposition to the full bill, Republican opponents of the exemptions will need to vote in favor of the bill for its passage. That vote could take place on Friday.
The Republican-controlled state Senate narrowly passed the abortion ban Saturday, 26-20, securing the minimum 26 votes needed to send it to the House.
The House on Thursday also rejected, largely along party lines, a Democratic proposal that called for placing a non-binding question on the ballot for the state’s November election: “Shall abortion remain legal in Indiana?”
The proposal came after Kansas voters on Tuesday rejected a measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled state Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure altogether. The vote was the first test of voters’ feelings about abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.
McNamara opposed the ballot question, pointing out that Indiana law does not provide for statewide referendums. The only such statewide votes are on proposed constitutional amendments after they have been approved by two separately elected legislatures.
Democratic Rep. Sue Errington of Muncie said Indiana voters want the chance to have their say on whether abortion should be legal.
“I don’t know if it’s going to turn out like it did in Kansas,” Errington said. “I hope it does, but I don’t have that guarantee.”
Last week, thousands of demonstrators from all sides of the abortion issue filled the hallways of the Statehouse and the sidewalks around the building as the Senate debated the bill. More than 100 people testified during a roughly nine-hour committee hearing Tuesday. Only a handful of demonstrators watched Thursday’s debate outside the chamber and in its gallery.
A House committee on Tuesday advanced its version of the Senate-approved bill. The House bill would allow exceptions to abortion for the physical health and life of the mother, and if the fetus is diagnosed with a fatal abnormality. It also adjusts the time frame when abortions will be allowed in cases of rape and incest.
The Senate voted to allow abortions up to 12 weeks after fertilization for those under 16 and eight weeks for those 16 and older. The House version would instead create a blanket ban 10 weeks after fertilization on abortions in cases of rape and incest. Victims will no longer be required to sign a notarized statement certifying assault.
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Arlie Rogers is a corps member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. America Report is a national nonprofit program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Follow her on Twitter at
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