Abortion Ban Blocks Care Weeks Before Becoming Law

For Immediate Release: July 12, 2023

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Indianapolis, IN — On June 30th, the Indiana Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing S.E.A. 1, the state’s total abortion ban, to take effect with limited exceptions on August 1. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in Indiana, has reached capacity for abortion appointments and will not be able to schedule any additional abortion services in the state. Our doors remain open for all other reproductive health care options including pregnancy evaluation and consultation services, wellness exams, STI screening and care, emergency contraception, birth control etc. and to help navigate patients who may need abortion services out of state. 

Statement from, Rebecca Gibron, CEO for Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky:

“Our health centers are overbooked for abortion appointments and our patients are overwhelmed trying to get care. We should not be here,” said Rebecca Gibron, CEO of PPGNHAIK. “From Tennessee to Kentucky, Texas and Louisiana, our health centers are serving patients where bans have blocked access to abortion — basic, time-sensitive care that has been so severely politicized and stigmatized that people must flee their homes or be forced to remain pregnant.

"Our courts have failed us in a time where access to care couldn’t be more vital. Maternal mortality rates have more than doubled for Hoosiers and will only get worse. Banning abortion does not stop people from needing abortions, it just means fundamental health care is only accessible to people with the means to travel for access. Our services may be changing, but our commitment to care will not. We are here to help, now and always.”

Access to care has never been more critical. One in three women of reproductive age in the U.S. – and even more trans and nonbinary people who can become pregnant – no longer have access to abortion in their home states. As of August 1, that will include nearly 1.5 million women, and people who can become pregnant, in Indiana. 

Abortion is fundamental health care, and the decision to have an abortion should be made only between a pregnant person and their health care provider. The implementation of this near total ban comes as reports show that maternal mortality rates have more than doubled in Indiana, and as the state already ranks as the third-highest in maternal mortality rates in the entire country. With a total abortion ban, experts predict we will see a 21 percent increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths and a 33 percent increase among Black women. 

A block in a separate Religious Freedom Restoration Act case against the ban remains in effect; however, because of the hospital requirement in S.E.A. 1, Planned Parenthood facilities will not be able to provide abortion care, even if RFRA is successful or under limited exemptions provided in S.E.A. 1. 

The number of out of state patients seeking medication abortion in Indiana has increased 100 percent at Planned Parenthood health centers since Roe was reversed, and 160 percent for surgical abortion care. More than a fourth of those patients are coming from Kentucky. According to IDOH reports, they made up more than half of out-of-staters in 2022 and were nearly 90% of that subtotal in the first quarter of 2023.

Planned Parenthood will keep fighting to restore reproductive rights in Indiana and to help Hoosiers get access to the services they need. To anyone looking for abortion care, Planned Parenthood’s staff is ready to help them find an appointment and provide the information and resources needed to access care. To get in touch with a patient navigator or to learn more about options, people should call 1-800-230-7526 or visit any of our Planned Parenthood health centers.