Pence signs HEA 1337, reaffirming stance of pro-birth instead of pro-life

Indianapolis – Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) is outraged and alarmed that Gov. Mike Pence signed HEA 1337 into law. 

It is fraught with unintended consequences that will prove dangerous to women. PPINK is now working with the ACLU of Indiana to seek judicial review and fully expects to file a complaint and request for preliminary injunction.

This is not the first time that the governor has interjected his personal ideology into matters of public health policy for Hoosiers.

Let’s set the record straight. Indiana’s governor is pro-birth, making sure women are forced to have children, even if they do not have the emotional or financial stability to be parents.

Pence awarded a $3.5 million taxpayer-funded, no-bid contract to a Pennsylvania charity that opposes the use of birth control and endorses abstinence-only education. Evidence-based research proves this is not effective at preventing pregnancy or STDs.

“Pence fails to grasp basic facts when it comes to reproductive health. Education, coupled with access to all reproductive health services is the most effective method of protecting Hoosiers. It is clear that the governor is more comfortable practicing medicine without a license than behaving as a responsible lawyer, as he picks and chooses which constitutional rights are appropriate,” said Betty Cockrum, PPINK’s President and CEO.

Hoosier women deserve better than HEA 1337. It is time for politicians to stop interfering with woman and their physicians.