INDIANAPOLIS — EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is a previous report explaining how Indiana's new abortion law is tied to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
A Marion County judge granted the state's request for more time to submit arguments concerning a second preliminary injunction request against Indiana's new abortion law. The lawsuit in question tackles whether the law violates some Hoosiers' religious freedoms.
Oral arguments took place Oct. 14. On that day, the judge told the Attorney General's Office and the ACLU of Indiana to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by Oct. 28. She said her plan was to decide within 30 days of receiving those filings.
Now the deadline to submit is Jan. 3, which will likely mean the judge won’t make a decision on the issue until early 2023.
During oral arguments, the ACLU of Indiana spoke on behalf of its clients — five women of varying faiths and Hoosier Jews for Choice. Attorney Ken Falk argued his clients' "lives have been upended" because of the law, which bans all elective abortions and only allows for a few exceptions, including for victims of rape, incest up to 10 weeks, to save the life of the mother or if there's a fatal fetal anomaly.
The state countered, arguing an abortion is not religious expression. The state compared "embryonic human life" to adults and children. Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher said stopping abortion is as important, if not more important, than the state's interest in preventing child abuse.
"I think what I said was, 'if the government has a compelling interest in preventing child abuse, then surely it has a compelling interest in preventing the termination of human life,'" he said after the hearing. "It's hard to imagine that somehow that interest would be less than it has been to respect to preventing child abuse."
Fisher also argued there is no need for a preliminary injunction in this case because the law is already not being enforced. However, Falk said his clients would feel more comfortable resuming their normal sexual and contraceptive habits if a second preliminary injunction was granted.
"There's more certainty if you can get the additional injunction,” he said.
A different judge granted a preliminary injunction as part of a case looking at whether the law violates Indiana's constitution. The Indiana Supreme Court is now taking up that lawsuit with oral arguments scheduled to take place on Jan. 19.