Indiana Bill Would Force Women To Undergo Two Transvaginal Probes To Take A Pill

By Annie-Rose Strasser/Think Progress

A medication abortion pill, officially known as RU-486, is the earliest available abortion option for a woman. A patient could be as little as one week pregnant and take the pill to terminate. But despite the incredibly early stage at which the pill is administered, a new bill proposed in the Indiana State Senate would require women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound before they are permitted to simply swallow the medication.

Indiana’s effort follows a sweeping national trend to mandate the medically unnecessary and invasive procedure as a way to create barriers to abortion access. And theirs goes a step further, by also forcing clinics that administer the pill to meet all of the same requirements as a surgical abortion clinic:

The provision is included in Senate Bill 371, which also would require any clinic that dispenses the drug — known as RU-486 — to meet the same requirements as a clinic that performs surgical abortions, though physicians’ offices would be exempt.

Those requirements, opponents say, potentially would force the Planned Parenthood clinic in Lafayette to close. That clinic offers the abortion pill but does not perform surgical abortions. If the bill passes, the clinic would have to widen hallways and doorways to meet state specifications for surgery and install anesthesia, surgical and sterilization equipment.

Twelve states already have unnecessary ultrasound laws on the books, and over a dozen more are being considered in state houses across the country. But the theory that legislators are peddling — that such laws might change a woman’s mind — ignore the simple fact that 90 percent of women feel very confident about their decision to get an abortion before seeing a doctor. A transvaginal ultrasound may cause a woman discomfort and cost her more money, but it’s unlikely to change her constitutionally-protected decision to get an abortion.

UPDATE

Indiana’s bill is actually twice as invasive as most forced ultrasound bills, theHuffington Post reports. The version that advanced out of a Senate committee today would require women to undergo two transvaginal probes — before and after taking the abortion pill. There’s no medically necessary reason to require an ultrasound after an abortion procedure, since women can simply take a blood test to see whether their hormone levels have returned to normal to verify that they are no longer pregnant.

Indiana Will Enforce Illegal Law To Defund Planned Parenthood, May Lose All Medicaid Funds

By Tanya Somanader

In the race to be the first, the Indiana GOP plowed through common sense and internal opposition to pass a law stripping Planned Parenthood of public funding. When signing the bill, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) said non-abortion services would “remain readily available” from other providers. In reality, by signing the law, Daniels jeopardized federal funding for all family planning and health care providers and, as a result, access to health care for thousands of low-income Hoosiers.

Because the law bans Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds in Indiana, it violatesa federal law that prevents any state from denying payment to health care clinics that provide a “constitutionally protected service.” Finding Indiana in blatant violation of this law, the U.S Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Don Berwick rejected the law and notified the state that it may lose “all federal funding of its Medicaid program.” But rather than reconsider the drastic move, Indiana will “defy” CMS and continue to implement the law:

Indiana plans to defy an Obama administration letter and continue barring Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding — a move that, if continued, could cost the state more than $4 billion in Medicaid funds. [...]

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration plans to continue implementing the legislation, signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels last month, that defunded Planned Parenthood.

“For now, our lawyers advise us that we must continue to follow the law the Indiana General Assembly passed,” says Marcus Barlow, director of communications for FSSA. “We will seek guidance from the attorney general on how to proceed going forward.”

A CMS source told Politico that “the entirety of Indiana’s federal Medicaid funding” is at stake should they violate federal law. Last year, Indiana received $4.3 billion in federal funding which “accounts for about two-thirds of the state’s $5.9 billion Medicaid budget.” About $3 million of that funding goes to Indiana’s 28 Planned Parenthood clinics, which, according to Planned Parenthood of Indiana, served about 9,300 low-income patients last year. Of these clinics, only four provide abortion services. What’s more, only 3 percent of their services involve abortions. In going to such an extreme to prohibit one group’s rare practice of a constitutionally protected service, Indiana is imperiling the health care of a great number of Hoosiers to make a political point.

Of course, for many in the GOP, the evisceration of Medicaid seems to be an end goal. At the beginning of this year, GOP governors sought leeway to cut down on their Medicaid rollsthrough exemption from the health care reform law. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) budget plan seemed to deliver by turning Medicaid into a block grant program, effectively allowing states to cut eligibility and provide less coverage. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) took matters into his own hands and signed an executive order in April that will essentially end Medicaid in his state.

But, as Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards notes, CMS’s rebuke “serves as a warningto other states” considering a similar ploy with Medicaid. While Kansas, North Carolina, andTexas are toying with similar legislation, Tennessee has already “backed off attempts to defund Planned Parenthood specifically because of concerns over constitutionality.”