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State Sen. David Long believes the issue of ensuring abortion patients have the proper follow-up care should be handled at the state level.
Long and U.S. Reps. Mark Souder, R-3rd, and Mike Pence, R-6th, spoke Monday about their support for legislation restricting abortion rights prior to attending the Allen County Right to Life annual banquet at Grand Wayne Center. Republican Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman was scheduled to speak at the banquet.
President Pro Tem Long, R-Fort Wayne, helped push a bill through the Indiana Senate in January that would have required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and to notify the patient of the hospital location where the patient could receive follow-up care. A similar law has been proposed in Allen County.
The local version was touted as a patient safety law but focused only on doctors performing certain gynecological procedures including some used during abortions. Allen County Right to Life drafted the ordinance and has urged the county commissioners to consider passing the law.
Last week, Commissioner Nelson Peters said any patient-related ordinance would be broadened beyond just gynecological procedures.
A statewide doctors’ group has also taken up the cause and plans to work with state officials to close a gap in current regulations to ensure all doctors provide adequate follow-up care after any type of in-office surgical procedure.
But that process could take at least a year or two.
Long wants to ensure the safety of patients statewide, whether that is accomplished through the state health department or the legislature. He expects the issue to be introduced again during the coming state legislative session, he said.
Such a bill would have support in the Senate but, Long said, he doesn’t know whether it would go far in the Democratic-controlled House.
In the meantime, the debate has moved to the county level and it’ll be a greater challenge to get such laws passed in all 92 counties, Long said.
Two counties, Vanderburgh and Dubois, have already approved similar ordinances. However, neither county has an abortion clinic, unlike Allen County where the Women’s Health Organization of Fort Wayne operates a clinic staffed by a doctor who is based in South Bend.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana operates abortion clinics throughout the state and is prepared for the issue to come up again during the General Assembly session, spokeswoman Kate Shepherd said. Whether the bill moves past the Senate depends on the Nov. 4 election as all state representatives are up for re-election this year, she said.
It should be the state that addresses the issue and uses methods already in place to track and review doctors’ performance. Any patient safety law should apply to all surgical procedures, Shepherd said.
“We have to look at it as what it is,” she said of proposed laws and ordinances. “And that is a way to chip away at a woman’s right to choose and, of course, abortion is a safe and legal procedure.”
aiacone@jg.net
