Pro-Lifers Settle Lawsuit Against Indiana After New GOP Governor Releases Abortion Records
Pro-life organization Voices for Life settled a lawsuit against Indiana Monday after newly inaugurated Gov. Mike Braun reversed his Republican predecessor’s refusal to publish abortion records as required by state law. On behalf of the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH), Attorney General Todd Rokita agreed the agency would once again release the public records key to ensuring abortionists comply with state health and safety laws.
On Jan. 22, the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the day Hoosiers marked the in-state March for Life, Braun released an executive order that “Directs the Indiana Department of Health to ensure compliance with state pro-life laws, including reporting on terminated pregnancies, to make certain state laws are followed and enforced.” The executive order also notes Indiana law establishes that “childbirth is preferred, encouraged, and supported over abortion.”
In 2024, after Indiana outlawed most abortions following the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe, previous Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb allowed his IDOH to stop releasing TPRs. With help from the legal nonprofit Thomas More Society, Voices for Life sued last May to continue obtaining the records.
“According to the terms of the settlement, IDOH will now release TPRs upon lawful request and not designate the reports as confidential medical records,” says a Thomas More Society press release issued today. “The settlement agreement secures this release of individual TPRs with minimal redactions designed to ensure that the TPRs cannot be misused to identify an individual.”
In January 2024, Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt had issued a non-binding opinion saying IDOH no longer needed to follow the law because, with many fewer legal abortions, even anonymized TPRs could reveal the identities of women committing abortions. Britt is a gubernatorial appointee first selected by former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence whom Holcomb kept. Before the public access counselor position, Britt worked as an attorney for IDOH.
Rokita responded with a legal opinion stating Hoosiers had a right to sue over the Holcomb administration’s refusal to enforce Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act. He told reporters he reached out to Holcomb and state legislative leaders about the TPRs and they didn’t respond.
Rokita remains under threat from the state Supreme Court’s lawyer licensing board for defending unborn life vigorously in public. He was re-elected in November by nearly 18 points, earning the most votes of all statewide candidates in the Republican-controlled state.
Terminated pregnancy reports (TPRs) released in 2022 to Voices for Life indicated that three women died after abortions and two babies were born alive after chemical abortions in Indiana. It appears no abortionists lost their Indiana medical licenses after their patients may have died following abortions. Voices for Life has filed more than 700 complaints of legal violations from regularly reviewing these reports.
“All state agencies are directed to fully cooperate with the Office of the Attorney General in the investigation and enforcement of the State of Indiana’s abortion laws,” Braun’s order states. It also directs IDOH to report to him by July 1 all changes it has made to comply with the order.
After Holcomb and his IDOH banned Hoosiers from worship, demanded masking, pushed Covid injections, and repeatedly kept healthy kids from school during two years of draconian lockdowns, state Republicans increased IDOH’s annual funding by 2,000 percent, from $7 million to $150 million annually in 2023.
Indiana’s healthcare lobby is perhaps its largest and most influential. Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and other big businesses played a pivotal role in pushing Pence and the state legislature to reverse a religious freedom protection law in 2015 to create legal privileges for queer residents. The reversal unleashed a watershed of corporate cancel culture against Americans who disagree with identity politics, which included ruining a tiny Indiana pizza parlor and the debanking of Christian charities based on their religious beliefs.
Donald Trump’s re-election is a sign Americans hate corporate bullying and strip-mining of American prosperity and weak Republicans who enable these. In his previous Senate tenure and now his governorship, Braun came into office openly branding himself as a Trump-like “businessman outsider” candidate.
Braun has vowed to reduce health-care spending as governor. A recent study placed Indiana in the top 10 states for highest hospital costs in the nation. Hospital executives note the majority of patients do not pay for their health expenses — taxpayers do, including for illegal aliens, typically via Medicare and Medicaid.
Federal programs often pay less than the costs of care and include massively wasteful regulations, pushing hospitals to make uptight margins by charging abusive prices to the minority of patients on private insurance or self-pay. This Obamacare-created situation is designed to drive the United States into socialized medicine.
Recent investigative reporting by The Guardian indicates Indiana’s hospital monopolies drive up prices by ending medical competition within entire regions of the state. Few doctors work in private practice now, thanks to the regulation and overhead heaped on the industry.
Braun released nine executive orders on Jan. 22 aimed at health policy. One “directs state agencies to enhance price transparency across healthcare services, empowering Hoosiers with clear, upfront pricing to make informed decisions.” Others direct agencies to investigate health providers’ resource management, “surprise billing,” and potential fraud.
In his first week in office, Braun also signed executive orders axing unnecessary college degree requirements for state jobs and ending racial discrimination against men and white people in state agencies. Holcomb had also hired and appointed based on sex and race rather than competence, creating a DEI cabinet position Braun axed. Braun was elected in November with a 14-point margin.
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