Planned Parenthood Sues Indiana Over Abortion Clinic Requirements
Planned Parenthood filed a federal challenge on Thursday to an Indiana law requiring clinics that administer the so-called abortion pill to have full surgical facilities, which it says would halt abortion services at a clinic in the state.
Under the law, Planned Parenthood would have to upgrade its clinic in Lafayette, Indiana, to surgical standards or stop administering RU-486, commonly called the abortion pill, it said in a lawsuit filed in Indianapolis federal court.
Separately, the group that has been at the forefront of the U.S. national battle over abortion won a legal fight to block an Arizona law that would have cut off funding through the state for its health care clinics because they also performs abortions.
Imposing surgical facility requirements on clinics where no surgery is performed “is not only unreasonable, it is utterly irrational …,” Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky said in the lawsuit, which seeks a federal court injunction.
Legislators supporting the law that took effect July 1 have said it would protect women’s health. It requires clinics providing non-surgical abortions to have separate procedure, recovery and scrub rooms like surgical centers starting January 1.
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