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2008 Indiana legislation
March 18, 2008
After a three month roller coaster ride for women's health issues, Planned Parenthood Advocates is happy to announce that the 2008 Indiana General Assembly ended without any anti-choice bills passing. However, there were 19 bills threatened with 28 anti-choice "poison pill" amendments this year—double what we saw last year, and proof that we cannot stop working between legislative sessions.
It is crucial that we spend time before the beginning of the 2009 Indiana Legislative Session working to protect women's health issues in Indiana. We must continue to work for the Prevention First legislation.
This is also an important year for us because it is an election year. Please take action to fight for women's health during the next legislative session by registering to vote, signing the Million Strong petition, and becoming a member of Advocates.
Listed below are the bills in 2008 that dealt with reproductive health, including the Prevention First bills (SBs 222, 277, 311, and 327). Any bills without noted updates were never heard in committee and are considered dead until next year. If you'd like more information, email us. To receive timely email alerts and have an impact on bills as they move through the legislative process, please join our Action Network.
Other sessions: 2007 • 2006 • 2005
Senate Bill 3—Refusal to dispense birth control
This bill would protect Indiana pharmacists who refuse to dispense drugs or medical devices that they believe may be used to cause an abortion, death by euthanasia, or "destroy an unborn child." However, the bill does not define "unborn child." Plus, all abortifacient drugs must be directly dispensed by a pharmacist. There is already a current Indiana law that protects citizens from participating in an abortion against their will. This leads Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana to believe that this is a direct attack on contraceptives, not abortion. If pharmacists are allowed to personally define the term "unborn child," birth control, including emergency contraception, will most certainly come under attack.
SB 3 could severely curtail access to contraception, especially in rural areas which may only have a single pharmacist per town or even county. If passed, we fear that measures like this could cause significant increases in unintended pregnancies and thus lead to an increase in the number of abortions. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana strongly opposes legislation that sets limitations on a person's right to make his/her own contraceptive choices and grants pharmacists legal protection to deny health care.
Update: SB 3 was heard in the Senate Health & Provider Services committee on 1/9/08. It became abundantly clear during the committee hearing that supporters of this bill believe that any form of hormonal birth control (i.e., the pill, the patch, the ring, the shot, Emergency Contraception) does indeed "destroy an unborn child," because it may sometimes work to prevent pregnancy by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.
While we are each entitled to our own beliefs, they should not be allowed to interfere with someone else's medical care. Sen. Errington and Sen. Simpson offered amendments to ensure that patients can get their prescriptions; both were voted down.
Sen. Simpson offered an amendment to remove the phrase "destroy an unborn child." She was vigorous in her questioning of SB 3's author, Sen. Drozda, as to why he had included this phrase; he offered no explanation as to how it would differ from an abortion, nor why this bill was necessary, since Indiana law already protects people from participating in an abortion against their will. He assured the committee that he did not intend for the bill to cover contraceptives, yet he refused to remove the phrase. Though this clause seems added only to protect pharmacists who believe that birth control and abortion are synonymous, Sen. Simpson's amendment was defeated.
The bill advanced out of committee. Sen. Drozda informed the media immediately after the hearing that he did intend the bill to cover the right to refuse to dispense emergency contraception—directly contradicting his testimony to the committee. SB 3 will likely be heard by the full Senate on 1/22/08.
Update 2:As it was debated on the floor of the Senate, two amendments to SB 3 were considered and voted upon. Sen. Drozda's Amendment 16 to allow a pharmacist to call a doctor and ask why the doctor had prescribed a medication to a patient before deciding whether or not to fill the prescription prevailed 29-16. Sen. Simpson's Amendment 10 to protect access to birth control was defeated 22-26; twenty-six Indiana Senators voted to say that birth control is the same thing as abortion.
Though Senate Bill 3 failed to pass 1/24/08, deadlocking in the Senate on a vote of 24-24, Senate rules allowed author Sen. Drozda to re-call the bill on 1/29/08. Unfortunately for women across Indiana, he moved 6 votes and the bill was passed 30-18. It now moves to the Indiana House.
We would still like to thank the numerous Senators (Simpson, Errington, Tallian, Sipes, Becker and Rogers) who provided tireless leadership and support for birth control access. We hope that their colleagues in the House of Representatives will follow their lead and reject SB 3 and any bill which will limit access to contraception.
Update 3: While we cannot say that Senate Bill 3 is necessarily dead (there is still potential that it could be amended into a bill on the floor or during conference committees), it was assigned to the Courts and Criminal Code Committee in the House and remained unheard. We would like to thank Committee Chair Representative Hoy for realizing the potential threat that SB 3 would have on women's access to contraception and not hearing the bill.
Update 4: Senator Drozda made it obvious on 2/25/08 that he was not going to give up on restricting access to birth control when he attempted to amend the language from Senate Bill 3 into House Bill 1172. HB 1172 is a bill recognizing emergency volunteers' health licenses in the case of a state emergency. Luckily for the million-plus Hoosier women who want to continue receiving their birth control prescription in a timely manner, Senate President Pro Tem Long ruled the SB 3 language as non-germane to HB 1172, which then passed the Senate without pharmacy refusals.
Final outcome: We can now officially say the language found in SB 3 is dead for the 2008 General Assembly. Thank you to everyone who wrote to their legislator to vote against it and made trips to the State House as a Capitol Activist!
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Senate Bill 63—State funding for HIV/AIDS prevention
This bill appropriates $1,500,000 to the state department of health for grants for HIV/AIDS prevention for the upcoming year. As one of the largest outlets for safe sexual education for Indiana residents, Planned Parenthood Advocates sees this as a hopeful step forward in providing accurate facts on the causes and effects of HIV and AIDS for the state's population.
The legislation also coincides with with Planned Parenthood Advocates' ultimate goal of prevention—teaching medically accurate facts that will prevent unintended problems before they happen, rather than allowing lawmakers to create band-aid legislation. Planned Parenthood Advocates strongly supports SB 63 and commends Senator Rogers for her proactive approach to HIV/AIDS prevention.
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Senate Bill 128—Equivalent jobs and wage discrimination
Senate Bill 128 outlines legislation that makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee on the basis of sex, race or national origin by paying them wages less than the wages paid to an employee of another sex, race, or national origin for work in an equivalent job.
Planned Parenthood Advocates strongly supports this bill because we believe everyone has the right to equality in the workplace. Employers who make wage decisions based on anything other than merit and position of employment are violating the rights of their employees.
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Senate Bill 143—Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
As the House sponsor Charlie Brown stated on the House floor, Senate Bill 143 was one of the most important pieces of legislation that the General Assembly needed to pass during the 2008 legislative session, because it would prevent any forms of lead paint from being used in childcare centers and create testing for childcare centers already in existence for lead paint. Unfortunately, Representative Walorski, angry that church-run daycare centers would be included in these standards, used this bill to take yet another stab at abortion providers.
She amended it to include lead standards for abortion facilities. The amendment passed 66-32, but the bill passed only 51-48 on 2/26/08. Rep. Walorski herself voted against the final bill even though her amendment was included—proof positive that her only intent was to kill the bill. Planned Parenthood Advocates is tired of legislators using women's health care as a bargaining chip. Women's health—not to mention the safety of children in daycare centers—is too important to be used as a political toy.
Final outcome: Since we had some wonderful politicians on our side, we were able to get the anti-choice language taken out in conference committee. The bill passed and is assigned to a summer study committee.
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Senate Bill 146—Legislators playing doctor
SB 146 would amend Indiana's informed consent to abortion law and require a doctor to inform a pregnant woman that the fetus might feel pain, despite overwhelming scientific evidence and medical evidence to the contrary. The latest medical research (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2005) shows that the earliest the fetus might feel pain is 29-30 weeks' gestational age; abortions at this stage are banned in Indiana.
Even more outrageous, this legislation would also require that doctors inform patients that "human life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm;" in other words, "life begins at conception". Not only will this require doctors to practice politics, rather than medicine, it is another chance to attack birth control (see SB 3). Planned Parenthood Advocates opposes legislation which mandates false speech and state sponsored harassment.
SB 146 would also require a physician who performs an abortion to: (1) have privileges at a hospital in the county or in a county adjacent to the county where the abortion is performed; and (2) notify the patient of the hospital location where the patient can receive follow-up care by the physician. The majority of Indiana women who seek abortion services have to travel extremely long distances. In Indiana, only five counties have an abortion provider. SB 146 will not improve the health and safety of patients.
Physicians performing abortions want their patients to get to the nearest hospital in the event of a post-operative emergency. Further, the fact that her physician has hospital privileges in Marion County will not help the patient who's returned to her home in Vigo County—or Jennings County, or Whitley County—after having an abortion. SB 146 will only serve as an additional barrier to women seeking abortion services. Planned Parenthood Advocates opposes legislation that will needlessly curtail access to abortion while doing nothing to help prevent unintended pregnancy.
Update: SB 146 was heard by the Judiciary Committee on January 10. The final committee vote took place on January 15, where it passed 7-1. SB 146 was heard on the Senate Floor on 1/29/08, where it passed with a vote of 39-9. Even though there were nine senators on the Senate floor that realized this legislation mandated false speech and would ultimately limit a woman's access to contraception, the majority ruled.
Senate Bill 146 was assigned to the House Public Policy Committee, where it did not receive a hearing. We would like to thank Committee Chair Van Haaften for concentrating on necessary legislation in committee. Hopefully others will follow his lead in the future by protecting the overall quality of accurate health information provided to Hoosier women. Since we cannot say the language in 146 is necessarily dead for the session (it could still be amended in to another bill or brought up in conference committee), we will continue to monitor the legislative process.
Update 2: Senator Miller shared Senator Drozda's perseverance in continually trying to pass legislation that would limit women's health options. She also attempted to amend her language from SB 146 into HB 1172 (legislation recognizing emergency volunteers' health licenses in the case of a state emergency) on 2/25. Similar to the outcome of SB 3, her language (separated into two amendments) was ruled non-germane to the bill's original meaning, and HB 1172 was passed without the language from SB 146.
Final outcome: Planned Parenthood Advocates is happy to announce that the language found in SB 146 is dead for the session!
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Senate Bill 187—Misuse of education funds
This bill would require each Indiana school corporation to include detailed instruction regarding human fetal development in their high school health education curriculum.
In a state that does not require sex education, this legislation is problematic. The education that would be provided by SB 187 could potentially result in a curriculum designed solely as anti-choice propaganda
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana would much rather see health education funding being spent to develop and implement medically accurate sex education programs, and leave fetal development to biology class.
Update: SB 187 was heard by the Health and Provider Services Committee on 1/24 and passed with a party line vote of 7-4. SB 187 was passed with almost no debate by the full Senate on 1/29 with a vote of 36-11. Eleven senators were brave enough to stand up against this unnecessary initiative.
SB 187 was assigned to the House Education Committee; we thank the chair, Rep. Porter, for recognizing that SB 187 is not the best solution to Indiana’s education problems. Sen. Drozda was not deterred, however, and amended the language into House Bill 1107, a bill dealing with cultural competency in education training—totally non-germane to the language in SB 187.
Because Indiana high schoolers would be better served with a comprehensive sex education curriculum and not this narrow agenda, Planned Parenthood Advocates is working with legislators to remove the language in conference committee.
Final outcome: Luckily for Hoosier students, the language from SB 187 did not become law as an amendment to HB 1107. However, the cost of this victory was the death of HB 1107, making it one of the almost 20 bills this year killed by a politician using women's health as a political bargaining chip.
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Senate Bill 219—Lactation support in the workplace
This bill will require state, political subdivisions and other workplaces to recognize women's important roles as mothers by providing paid breaks and private space for breastfeeding moms so that they can provide breast milk for their infant. Planned Parenthood Advocates applauds this important step toward women's equality in the workplace and fully supports this bill.
Update: SB 219 passed through the Pensions and Labor committee on 1/23 with a vote of 8-0. SB 219 passed the full Senate on a vote of 47-1 on 1/29 and has already received House sponsors. Planned Parenthood Advocates thank all the Senators who voted in favor of SB 219.
SB 219 was assigned to the Labor and Employment committee in the House, and passed the committee 11-0 on 2/12/08. It passed the full House on 2/19 with a vote of 90-3. Planned Parenthood Advocates are excited to say that SB 219 was signed by the Governor on 2/27/08 and will become part of workplace law in July of 2008.
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Senate Bill 221—Warning to pregnant women of tobacco use
Senate Bill 221 requires that tobacco vending machines and establishments which sell tobacco post a notice that states the dangers of smoking while pregnant. Women should have access to medically accurate and truthful information regarding their health on all levels. Planned Parenthood Advocates supports this bill.
Update: SB 221 was heard by the Committee on Commerce, Public Policy & Interstate Cooperation on January 10. The bill passed with a vote of 6-0. SB 221 passed the full Senate on 1/29 with a vote of 43-5.
Senate Bill 221 was assigned to the House Public Policy committee, where it passed 9-0 on 2/20/08. The legislation was not voted on by the full House due to time constraints.
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Senate Bill 222—Birth control protection
This bill defines "contraception" and provides that contraception is not subject to or governed by abortion statutes. This bill would protect contraception from all ant-choice legislation targeting abortion (see SB 146, SB 3). Senate Bill 222 is one of the most vital parts of the Prevention First legislative package, and we thank Sen. Vi Simpson for authoring the bill. Planned Parenthood Advocates believes that prevention measures are the key to preventing unintended pregnancies and therefore strongly supports SB 222 as a key component of protecting reproductive rights.
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Senate Bill 277—Patient protection
Introduced by Sen. Sue Errington, Senate Bill 277 comes as a response to bills that allow pharmacists to deny patients their prescriptions based on personal beliefs (see SB 3). Another vital part of Prevention First, SB 277 imposes a duty on a pharmacy to fill a contraceptive prescription in a timely manner. The pharmacy will be required to take specified steps if they do not have the prescription or over-the-counter contraceptive currently in stock in order to ensure that the patient receives the medication or device requested.
Furthermore, SB 277 requires a pharmacy to ensure that customers are not intimidated, threatened, or harassed in the delivery of services and will allow a person to file a complaint in the event that harassment takes place. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana believes that women have a right to receive their lawful prescriptions in a timely fashion without harassment, intimidation or threats.
Update: Sen. Errington introduced the language used in SB 277 as an amendment to SB 3 in committee. The committee voted it down 6-4. Planned Parenthood Advocates will continue to work towards ensuring that all forms of prescription contraceptives will be provided to patients in all areas of the state.
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Senate Bill 306—Bias crimes
Senate Bill 306 outlines many new requirements that will provide certain civil rights to victims of bias crimes, which occur when a victim is targeted because he or she may belong to a defined social group (e.g. race, religion, sexual orientation).
Through the legislation outlined in SB 306, law enforcement officers will have to receive special training to aid in identifying, responding to and reporting biased crimes. The bill will also allow individuals who suffer a personal injury or property damage caused by a criminal offense to take civil action to recover damages if their perpetrator committed the offense knowingly or intentionally because of the victim's affiliations, background or lifestyle.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana fully supports this bill because it not only provides rights to many overlooked minority victims, but it will also supply law enforcement officers with the necessary tools to identify and hopefully prevent future bias crimes. We also support overall efforts to further equality and enhance diversity within our communities.
Update: See HB 1076.
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Senate Bill 311—Medically accurate sex education information
There is currently no law in the state of Indiana that mandates that the information taught in Indiana classrooms regarding sexuality be medically accurate. SB 311, introduced by Sen. Karen Tallian, would change that. A Prevention First bill, SB 311 would require instruction in accredited schools on human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases to be based on information that is factual, medically accurate, and age appropriate, rather than faith-based or personal choices.
It makes sense to equip youth with the most accurate and up-to-date information that they will need to protect themselves from STDs and unintended pregnancy as they mature into sexually healthy adults. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana supports the safety and health of Indiana youth, and therefore supports medically accurate sexuality education.
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Senate Bill 327—A parent's right to know
SB 327 is also a Prevention First bill, introduced by Sen. Jean Breaux. SB 327 requires a principal to send a notice to parents of students in abstinence-only human sexuality courses, to inform parents of the variety of content not being taught to her or his child as a result of a state-funded abstinence only cirriculum. Parents will also be given the right to have her/his child excused from abstinence-only courses.
Planned Parenthood Advocates supports SB 327 because parents need to fully understand the education their child is receiving. With the information provided as outlined in the bill, parents will be able to fill in their child's education and advocate for better sex education in their schools.
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Senate Joint Resolution 7—Discrimination in our constitution?
SJR 7 not only reserves the term "marriage" for heterosexual couples, but all related status and legal incidents thereof. In other words, gay and lesbian couples would be denied insurance, access to one another's hospital room, tax status, inheritance of property and an array of other rights that married couples take for granted.
Regardless of whether one believes that a homosexual couple can be legally "married," it is impossible to deny that civil rights are not infringed upon when constitutional rights of equal protection under the law are denied to any segment of our population. Planned Parenthood believes that all people, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, live under the same constitution, which protects rights of privacy, liberty, due process and equal protection. It is these same rights that guarantee women the right to vote, to choose when or whether to have children, and that are at the core of all civil rights protections for women and minorities alike.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana strongly opposes SJR 7 and all efforts to write discrimination into the state constitution, a document intended to protect the rights of all its citizens, not alienate them. To ignore SJR 7 would be to unravel the rights of Hoosiers everywhere.
Update: SJR 7 passed through the Senate by a vote of 39-9 on 1/29, and moved to the House. Even after numerous outside forces tried to push Representative Scott Pelath to hear SJR 7 in the House Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee (which he chairs), he stood up for the good of all Hoosiers and refused to hear it. However, due to numerous Senators and Representatives vowing to somehow amend the language into another resolution before the 2008 session closes on March 14, we will continue to monitor all forms of legislation where SJR 7 could potentially be wedged in.
Final outcome: Even though there was pressure from members of both parties to hear SJR 7, the House Democratic leadership held its ground, and SJR 7 was not heard in the House nor amended into other resolutions. This discriminatory amendment will not be on the ballot in 2008. If it is reintroduced next year, the earliest it would be eligible for a public vote would be 2012.
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House Bill 1027—Patient information in Spanish
House Bill 1027 is one of the proposed changes to Indiana's “informed consent” law.
The bill outlines language that will add yet another stipulation regarding the informed consent procedures that must be conducted before a woman can receive and abortion—that all the information currently given to patients prior to an abortion henceforth be given to all patients in Spanish as well as English. As written, Planned Parenthood Advocates do not oppose this bill—communicating with a patient in her own language is crucial to helping her make medical decisions.
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House Bill 1030—Tax credit for loss of pregnancy
As written, House Bill 1030 would have allowed women or couples to deduct $1000 from their taxable income if they had experienced a stillbirth within the tax year. The deduction equates to a $34 reduction of the taxes the woman or couple would owe for that year.
For those who have journeyed through a pregnancy with the full hopes and expectations for parenthood only to have it end in stillbirth, the loss can be great. While this bill attempts to provide some acknowledgement of that loss, a $34 tax credit will likely do little by way of supporting families in such a difficult time.
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House Bill 1042—Censorship or mere Big-Brotherism?
HB 1042 would require anyone selling "sexually explicit materials" to register with the secretary of state. It would be disturbing enough to think that the secretary of state was compiling a master list of businesses selling girlie mags or sex toys as if they were terrorists, but HB 1042 may reach further. While HB 1042 specifically excludes birth control from the roster of materials in question, it does not exclude sexually explicit materials of an educational or artistic nature. Planned Parenthood Advocates opposes HB 1042 because it sets a very dangerous precedent and equates to state endorsed censorship.
Update: HB 1042 was heard on January 23 by the Family, Children and Human Affairs committee and passed with a vote of 8-0. No amendments were made—the author said he did not intend the bill to interfere with educational or artistic materials, but would not add those exclusions to the bill.
HB 1042 was amended on second reading by Rep. L. Lawson on 1/29 to exclude materials of an artistic or educational nature. Planned Parenthood Advocates thanks Rep. Lawson for realizing the need for proper tools in sexual education training. The bill passed the House of Representatives 88-5 on 1/30/08.
House Bill 1042 passed the Senate committee on Corrections, Criminal and Civil Matters 6-0 on 2/20/08 with minor amendments, and the full Indiana Senate on 2/27 with a vote of 44-2.
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House Bill 1076—Bias crimes
House Bill 1076 outlines many new requirements that will provide certain civil rights to victims of bias crimes, which occur when a victim is targeted because he or she may belong to a defined social group (e.g. race, religion, sexual orientation).
Through the legislation outlined in HB 1076, law enforcement officers will have to receive special training to aid in identifying, responding to and reporting biased crimes. The bill will also allow individuals who suffer a personal injury or property damage caused by a criminal offense to take civil action to recover damages if their perpetrator committed the offense knowingly or intentionally because of the victim's affiliations, background or lifestyle.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana fully supports this bill because it not only provides rights to many overlooked minority victims, but it will also supply law enforcement officers with the necessary tools to identify and hopefully prevent future bias crimes. We also support overall efforts to further equality and enhance diversity within our communities.
Update: HB 1076 passed the Courts and Criminal Codes Committee on 1/16/08 with a vote of 8-3. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana thanks Representative Greg Porter for drafting and working for legislation that furthers equality and diversity in the state.
Update 2: Three anti-choice, “killer” amendments to HB 1076 have been filed. Reps. Walorski and Thompson filed controversial amendments dealing with fetal viability and language to blame the victims of crimes in order to kill HB 1076, as happened last year. Planned Parenthood Advocates cannot understand why legislators would argue against a bill that has the potential to provide more protection to their constituents.
Update 3: Another victim of poison pill amendments, HB 1076 was never called forth on second readings, the same thing that happened to HB 1459 last year. For the second year in a row, conservative legislators used anti-choice amendments to kill a bill that would have provided the people they represent with new forms of protection.
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House Bill 1107—Cultural Competency—great! Inaccurate education? Bad…
HB 1107 started out as a great idea—it required that the state education board develop standards for teachers that included cultural competency training for teachers and staff. The bill passed through the Education committee and the House with no problems. However, in the Senate, Sen. Drozda amended his language from SB 187 into HB 1107. Planned Parenthood Advocates does not oppose HB 1107 as long as the language from SB 187 is removed—having more culturally aware staff and teachers in Indiana would be wonderful.
Update: House Bill 1107 passed the Senate 29-17 with Senator Drozda's fetal development amendment attached on 2/19/08. The bill was assigned to conference committee to resolve the differences in the House and Senate versions.
Final outcome: Sadly, HB 1107 became one of the many victims of poison pill amendments this session. The conferees were unable to come to an agreement on the removal of the fetal development currciculum from the cultural competency bill. Planned Parenthood Advocates thanks Rep. Porter for not allowing Sen. Drozda's language to become law, and supports his future efforts for cultural competency in Indiana schools.
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