The Republican-dominated House voted 61-39 to kill an amendment that would have removed those exemptions, with a majority of GOP members wanting them removed. The House vote showed a similar division among Republicans seen in the state Senate over rape and incest exemptions, which remained in the bill after an attempt in the Senate last week also failed to remove those exemptions. Republican Rep. Karen Engleman supported the amendment, arguing that even a child caught in a rape or incest attack deserved a chance at life. “The intentional termination of human life has no place in the practice of medicine,” Engleman said. Indiana’s proposal follows a political firestorm over a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to the state from neighboring Ohio to terminate a pregnancy. The case gained widespread attention when an Indianapolis doctor said the child had to travel to Indiana because a new Ohio law prohibits abortions if cardiac activity is detected, usually around six weeks into pregnancy. Democratic lawmakers asked Engleman whether the girl’s abortion would be banned if her amendment passed. Engleman, who said she had a child as an unmarried teenager, responded that doctors could still determine whether a pregnancy threatened a young girl’s life. Republican leadership said earlier this week they support exemptions for rape and incest. Republican House Speaker Todd Houston and GOP Rep. Wendy McNamara of Evansville, who is sponsoring the bill in the House, both said Monday they favor the exemption being allowed. McNamara said Monday that the law should be “conscientious of those people who have experienced trauma in situations of rape and incest.” While 39 House Republicans voted Thursday to remove the rape or incest exemptions from the bill, 32 Republicans joined the 29 House Democrats in keeping them in the bill. With a likely unified Democratic opposition to the full bill, Republican opponents of the exemptions will need to vote in favor of the bill to pass. That vote could take place on Friday. The Republican-controlled state Senate narrowly passed the abortion ban Saturday, 26-20, securing the minimum 26 votes needed to send it to the House. The House on Thursday also rejected, largely along party lines, a Democratic proposal that would have placed a non-binding question on the statewide November ballot: “Shall abortion remain legal in Indiana?” The proposal came after Kansas voters on Tuesday rejected a measure that would have allowed the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to strengthen abortion restrictions or ban the procedure outright. The vote was the first test of voters’ feelings about abortion since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. McNamara spoke against the ballot question, pointing out that Indiana law does not provide for statewide referendums. The only such statewide votes are on proposed constitutional amendments after two separately elected legislatures have passed. Democratic Rep. Sue Errington of Muncie argued that Indiana voters want a chance to have their say on whether abortion should be legal. “I don’t know if it’s going to turn out like it did in Kansas,” Errington said. “I hope it does, but I don’t have that guarantee.” Last week, thousands of protesters from all sides of the abortion issue filled the Statehouse hallways and sidewalks around the building as the Senate debated the bill. More than 100 people testified during a roughly nine-hour House committee hearing Tuesday. Only a handful of protesters attended Thursday’s debate outside the chamber and in its gallery. A House committee on Tuesday advanced its version of the Senate-passed bill. The House bill would allow exemptions for abortions for the physical health and life of the mother, and if a fetus is diagnosed with a fatal abnormality. It also adjusted the time frame in which abortions would be allowed in cases of rape and incest. The Senate voted to allow abortions up to 12 weeks after fertilization for those under 16 and eight weeks for those 16 and older. The House version, instead, would create a blanket ban after 10 weeks post-fertilization on abortions in cases of rape and incest. Also, victims will no longer be required to sign a notarized affidavit of assault. __ Arleigh Rodgers is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative corps. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues. Follow her on Twitter at
