Indiana Right To Life General Counsel Calls SB 1 ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’

 Indiana Right to Life General Counsel Courtney Turner Milbank testified today before the Indiana Senate Rules Committee about proposed Senate Bill 1. Milbank referred to the bill as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing’ and reiterated IRTL’s opposition to the bill with specific details.

“In general, SB 1 is an abject failure in achieving the pro-life movement’s goal of extending substantial protection to innocent unborn life now that authority has been returned to Indiana by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe and Casey in Dobbs,” said Milbank.

In her written testimony, Milbank laid out in detail the most egregious pieces of the bill that fail the unborn and prolife voters in Indiana. Those failures included:

• SB 1 removes all criminal penalties from, and provides compete immunity for, illegal abortions consented to by the pregnant woman, except for partial birth abortions, D&E abortions, and abortions performed without informed consent.
• SB 1 eliminates the legal requirement for the consent of pregnant woman for an abortion if it is necessary to save her life, so that a physician can abort a woman’s baby over her objection.
• SB 1 explicitly recognizes, and legalizes and facilitates, chemical abortion clinics flourishing throughout Indiana by authorizing abortion inducing drugs to flood Indiana and by facilitating their use through licensing current and future chemical abortion clinics throughout the state.

While billed as prohibiting abortion except to save the mother’s life and for rape or incest,” said Milbank in her testimony before the Senate Rules Committee. “SB 1 utterly fails to limit abortions to even the exceptions that it purports to find acceptable, due to numerous and pervasive legal flaws and omissions. If adopted, SB 1 would result in the continuation of abortion on demand throughout pregnancy in Indiana. As a result, IRTL opposes the adoption of SB 1.”

Milbank further explained that the gross deficiencies in SB 1 was the “inevitable result of its formulation process,” which included no local, state, or national prolife organization or any expert pro-life lawyer, and was instead drafted based on the advice of abortion rights advocates, using their suggested language from groups such as ACOG, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is one of the foremost pro-abortion advocacy groups in the nation.

“SB 1 is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, protecting abortion on demand by defective language, lack of necessary safeguards, and lack of an effective enforcement mechanism, while parading as a pro-life measure. IRTL opposes SB 1 and urges the Senate to pass truly pro-life legislation to protect the unborn,” Milbank said.