By JOCELYN VARE
Guest Columnist
Access to reproductive health services is a choice that legislators get to make for every woman in the state.
Over the past 10 years, the Statehouse Supermajority has taken every opportunity to chip away at the rights of Hoosier women to choose safe, appropriate, and life-saving abortions. Indiana already has considerable restrictions to abortion access.
On July 25, the Indiana General Assembly is set to convene a special legislative session. The Statehouse Supermajority will have a choice to make. Will they rush to place further restrictions on abortion access, just because they can? Or will they realize that Hoosier women deserve thoughtful, complete, compassionate consideration before more restrictions are simply piled on?
Will the Supermajority choose to interfere even more in the most personal situation a woman can face?
The consequences of more extreme abortion restrictions in Indiana would be devastating not just for women, but all Hoosiers. Further restrictions or a complete abortion ban would:
- Disproportionately affect poorer women and women of color
- Force women to have illegal and unsafe abortions just like in the pre-Roe era
- Risk the lives of mothers who experience life-threatening complications during pregnancies
- Make doctors cautious or unwilling to perform life-saving medical operations on pregnant women out of fear they will run afoul of new, untested abortion restrictions
- Encourage young Hoosiers to move out of Indiana to other states where they feel safer and freer
- Encourage companies to move jobs out of Indiana to other states where reproductive rights are protected
Over the past 10 years, the Supermajority has also overseen a decline in Hoosier women and children’s overall well-being and quality of life. Responsibility and respect to Hoosier women and children dictate that legislators should first invest the state’s outrageous surplus on support and care services. The priority should be for our legislators to first get Indiana strong and healthy. Leaders must serve their constituents and strive to address their real needs.
As your state senator, I promise to be that kind of leader. I will fight to protect reproductive health access and always strive to make Indiana a healthier place for every Hoosier. If your current representatives refuse to make that same commitment, hold them accountable on November 8.
Jocelyn Vare is an at-large member of the Fishers City Council and the Democratic candidate for Indiana Senate District 31 in the general election on Nov. 8, 2022. State Senate District 31 was redrawn to include all of Fishers, Geist, and parts of Noblesville and the northeast side of Indianapolis. For this special session of the Indiana General Assembly, the previously drawn legislative districts remain in effect. For more information, visit JocelynVareforIndiana.com.