Northwest Indiana women will join a nationwide movement Saturday to protest the recent Texas abortion ban and call for access to reproductive health care including abortion rights.
Northwest Indiana National Organization for Women and Porter County for Reproductive Rights will rally on the Porter County Courthouse lawn to support reproductive health care and legislation including the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and the Build Back Better Act.
Indiana NOW President Julie Storbeck said, “at its core,” abortion access is “a question of bodily autonomy and gender equality.”
“If we don’t control our own bodies, we control nothing,” Storbeck said. “Stigma, social taboos and embarrassment about sexual and reproductive issues are real barriers to people of all genders being able to access the health care we all need and deserve.”
Indiana NOW’s goal, Storbeck said, is to “let everyone know those stigmas are garbage.”
“Those taboos are dangerous. We need to replace them with science-based facts and drown out the lies and propaganda by the anti-choice extremists,” Storbeck said.
The march on the Porter County Courthouse lawn, 16 E. Lincolnway, in Valparaiso, begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, and will travel through the downtown and return to the courthouse for the rally, which will start at 3:45 p.m.
In September, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Texas law banning most abortions to remain in effect. The law bans abortions at the point of the “first detectable heartbeat,” which could happen around six weeks into pregnancy, though the time frame isn’t specified in the measure.
The law allows any private citizen to sue Texas abortion providers who violate the law, as well as anyone who “aids or abets” a woman or girl getting the procedure. The person who sues does not have to have a connection to the person getting an abortion, and is entitled to at least $10,000 in damages if they prevail in court.
The Supreme Court declined to block the law from taking effect, while a case is still proceeding in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In its 5-4 ruling, the court stated that is was not addressing the constitutionality of the law, but that those seeking an emergency stay to stop the law from going into effect had not met the high burden to block it.
The Justice Department has sued Texas over the law, arguing that it was enacted “in open defiance of the Constitution.”
National NOW President Christian Nunes said in a statement that “reproductive justice is the human right to maintain bodily autonomy, to make the decisions to have children, not have children, and to have equitable access to reproductive health care.”
“Every person must be able to make their own decisions about their reproductive health and family planning with dignity and self-determination,” Nunes said.
Leaders of Indiana’s Republican-dominated legislature said they won’t hurry to adopt legislation based on the Texas law, even though the legislators have been in session to approve redistricting maps. That means any abortion law debates wouldn’t happen until the next regular legislative session starts in January.
“We’re closely watching what’s happening in Texas in regards to their new pro-life law, including any legal challenges,” said Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, in a statement. “Indiana is one of the most pro-life states in the country, and we’ll continue to examine ways to further protect life at all stages.”
But, State Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, a long-standing, vocal anti-abortion advocate, has announced that she plans to introduce a bill similar to the Texas law during the 2022 session.
In a statement, State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, said she is “deeply concerned” that Brown, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “is taking this extreme position” because the judiciary committee is supposed to “uphold the law and the Constitution for all citizens, not just those who agree with you.”
Tallian, who will speak at the Porter County Courthouse rally, said the Texas law is “a horrifying case of allowing vigilantes to invade women’s privacy and take away real health care options that could save their lives.”
“True freedom of religion doesn’t allow for a radical minority to forcibly dictate their religious believes onto the rest of the country,” Tallian said. “By introducing legislation that deputizes citizens to police the bodies of women, we create a world where women have to fear for their safety and constantly worry what others may think when they seek health care.”
