WASHINGTON, – The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an eight-year-old Indiana state law that includes the country's most rigorous requirements for abortion, including — mandatory face-to-face counseling about the risks — with pictures of what the unborn baby looks like at the appropriate number of weeks — a mandatory 18-hour waiting period before an abortion can be carried out.
Abortion clinics in the state had appealed to the court on grounds that in-person counseling was “an outrageous law that leaves many women without access to abortions, or certainly places a heavy burden, an undue burden, on a woman's right to choose” abortion, according to Kate Michelman with NARAL Pro-Choice America.
The new ruling means that Indiana can now finally enforce the law, which was passed democratically eight years ago but has been hamstrung in the courts by abortion industry lawyers.
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