The Good

All four of the Prevention First bills were authored in the Senate this year, and for the first time ever, three of the bills were authored in the Indiana House of Representatives. We thank the sponsors of those bills who know that the best way to prevent abortion is to prevent unintended pregnancy through medically-accurate sex education and access to birth control. The legislators who authored Prevention First legislation include State Rep. Linda Lawson (D-Hammond), State Rep. Greg Porter (D-Indianapolis), State Rep. Vanessa Summers (D-Indianapolis), State Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage), State Sen. Sue Errington (D-Muncie), State Sen. Jean Breaux (D-Indianapolis) and State Sen. Vi Simpson (D-Bloomington).

• The fight against Senate Bill 89 proved that Indiana is home to some amazing elected representatives who truly care about a woman's right to choose. We could not be more thankful to those legislators who carried amendments that tried to make it a better bill. We also want to thank those who spoke out against moving SB 89 forward on the House floor and called it out for what it really was—a direct attack on abortion access in Indiana.
• You—our supporters. On two separate occasions, we asked you to write your legislators and let them know that SB 89 was not legislation you wanted to see passed in Indiana. On the first occasion, nearly 650 of you responded. On the second occasion, more than 720 of you responded. Thank you so much.

The Bad

• Senate Bill 90 would have mandated that women choosing to have abortions be told that a fetus might feel pain, which is not supported by medical evidence, and that life begins at conception. This form of biased counseling has no place in Indiana law. It was thankfully never heard on its own in the Indiana House of Representatives.
• Legislation mandating cultural competency (House Bills 1187 and 1480) within the public education sphere was once again affected by poison pill amendments by right-wing conservatives who continue to push a religious agenda on state politics.
• Sen. Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg) found it necessary to draft a Senate Joint Resolution asking Indiana's Congressmen and Senators to vote against the Freedom of Choice Act, otherwise known as FOCA. Perhaps Sen. Leising had not heard that FOCA has not been filed in the current U.S. Congress and that both Indiana and the United States are in the middle of an economic crisis that needs to be taken care of.

The Ugly

• Senate Bill 89 would have required all abortion doctors to obtain hospital admitting privileges, a nearly impossible, but definitely unnecessary and burdensome, requirement. Supporters of the bill claimed it was for "patient safety" and the benefit of "women's health." The measure died in conference committee, because the House and Senate could not come to an agreement on what it should include. However, it moved more than it had in any other session and should serve as a warning to those who support choice of what may lie ahead.
• As a part of the debate on SB 89 in the House, 52 Representatives voted against an amendment that spelled out that contraceptives are not abortion. This amendment would have protected access to birth control, but a majority of the members voted against it. This is as bad as it gets.
• State Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Jimtown) attempted to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood of Indiana. Rep. Walorski tried to amend House Bill 1653, legislation dealing with Medicaid service bidding. However, after much floor discussion, the amendment was ruled non-germane (unrelated to) the original legislation, by a vote of 50-47. If this amendment had passed, 49,000 low-income and uninsured Hoosiers would have been left without reproductive health care.
• Senator Jean Leising (R-Oldenburg) introduced Senate Bill 417, mandating that women seeking abortions be given a fetal ultrasound image 18 hours prior to their procedure. To pour salt into the wound, her legislation also specified that the pregnant woman would be responsible for the cost of the ultrasound. SB 417 was never heard in committee.
• Senate Bill 360 was an effort by Senator Stutzman to define "dependent' as an unborn child at any state of development and that a person "having the care of a dependent" includes a person carrying an unborn child.