Elimination of rape and incest exceptions voted down after prolonged debate | Metropolis & State

INDIANAPOLIS – An amendment that would have removed the exception for rape and incest from SB 1 failed by a vote of 18-28 after just over two hours of debate in the Indiana Senate

Sen. Mike Young (R-Indianapolis), who resigned from the Indiana Republican Caucus partly out of disagreement over the leniency of the proposed abortion ban, introduced amendment no. 58, which would allow abortion only when the mother’s life is at risk.

Young repeated the phrase “exceptions equal death” twice while introducing the amendment.

Several of Young’s Republican colleagues stated their opposition to the amendment.

Sen. Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) began by referencing how he lost his wife and raised his daughter by himself and said he was “afraid to death of something like this.”

Alting said he respects Young and other Republican colleagues that will vote in favor of the amendment, but wanted them to know that they are “no closer to God than some of us that are going to vote against this.”

Alting said through tears that while he’s pro-life, if his daughter was raped, he would still leave that decision to her, and would still respect and support her.

“That’s not being liberal,” Alting said. “That’s not being crazy. That’s just being a good dad.”

Sen. Vaneta Becker (R-Evansville) also went against her Republican colleague and said the amendment was extremely unfair to women who have been raped or assaulted and urged her colleagues to vote against the amendment.

Sen. Sue Glick (R-LaGrange), the author of SB 1, asked members of the senate to vote down the amendment.

“Don’t foster that evil on them after the evil they’ve already suffered,” Glick said.

Sen. Kyle Walker (R-Lawrence) said the vast majority of the public are not divided on exceptions for rape and incest and they believe it to be a “reasonable middle ground on a very, very difficult subject.”

Sen. Fady Qaddoura (D-Indianapolis) referenced the situation where a 10-year-old girl from Ohio received an abortion in Indiana and asked how the proposed amendment would deal with that girl and situations like that.

Young said he believed that for females under the age of 16, that by definition their life is in danger. Young said he would push to add another amendment that would clarify that in later discussions, either in the House or in future committees.

“I think we lost something in this debate,” Qaddoura said. “I can’t morally reconcile the policy arguments of let’s protect life, but its ok if you’re raped, keep that baby. … I think this is super extreme.”

“I can’t even believe we’re debating this,” Sen. JD Ford (D-Carmel) said. “The fact that we’re even debating this is retraumatizing people in our state.”

Sen. Jim Tomes (R-Wadesville) supported the bill, saying “two wrongs never makes a right.”

Tomes said he was called a baby killer when he returned from the war in Vietnam.

“I didn’t kill no babies” he said with a raised voice. “And I’m not gonna start now.”

Sen. Mike Gaskill (R-Pendleton) said he knows senators who vote for the amendment will face consequences, such as not being re-elected, and said he is “up here today to represent Jesus.”

“Please don’t villainize those of us that are going to vote for this amendment.” Gaskill said. “We’re holding to our deeply-held beliefs on what we think our lord and savior wants us to do.”

“We cannot fight for the rights of any person on any issue if they aren’t first given the right to life,” Sen. John Crane (R-Brownsburg) said. “I think it’s important for us to not give in and subject the child to a death sentence because the circumstances of how they came to be in the womb were atrocious.”

The discussion on the amendment lasted just over two hours.

“This is the great debate,” Young said in his closing statement before the vote. “People will remember us for what we did.”

Amendment no. 3

Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) began introducing his amendment by referencing Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears saying “I think that this is a reminder that a prosecutor’s office can serve as a real check on the power of state government,” as well as saying he would not prosecute anyone charged with breaking abortion laws.

Freeman’s amendment would allow for the state attorney general to take over cases where local prosecutors “categorically refuse” to prosecute crimes.

“We follow the law,” Freeman said. “We follow the laws we like and we follow the ones we don’t like.”

The amendment passed with a verbal vote.

Amendment no. 37

Sen. Tim Lanane (D-Anderson) proposed an amendment that would remove the requirement for parental consent when the minor is pregnant from rape or incest from the parent or guardian.

The amendment passed 47-0.

Amendment no. 49

Sen. Jean Breaux (D-Indianapolis) introduced an amendment which would call for a study on the impacts of the bill on maternal mortality rates in Indiana.

The amendment passed 45-2.

Amendment no. 20

Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne) proposed an amendment which would require a notarized statement for the affidavit required for the exception for rape and incest, as well as remove the confidentiality of the affidavit.

Becker opposed the amendment because of the removal of confidentiality.

Brown claimed that it was unclear what confidential meant in the original writing and that the affidavit is part of health records, which are already confidential.

Taylor opposed the amendment on the grounds that it would add another step that could be complicated if the victim is a minor.

The amendment was first said to have failed by a verbal vote, but was then taken to roll call as Brown had called for one.

The amendment then passed 24-23.

Lt. gov. Suzanne Crouch was the deciding vote in favor, breaking the tie.

Amendment no. 2

Sen. Mike Bohachek (R-Michiana Shores) proposed an amendment that would add risk to “physical health” and “mental or psychological health” as exceptions allowing a woman to receive an abortion.

The amendment failed by a verbal vote.

Indiana Senate Minority Leader Greg Taylor asked to question Bohachek on the amendment, but was denied by Bohachek.

Taylor reportedly could be heard yelling at Bohachek in the hallway outside the chamber after the incident

Taylor later apologized for his actions, but asked his colleagues to show him decorum and said he would show them decorum back if they did.

Amendment no. 59

Another amendment proposed by Young would allow for wrongful death suits against someone who provides an unlawful abortion.

The amendment failed 16-29.

Other amendments

Numerous other amendments proposed by Democrats were rejected. The amendments covered topics such as the removal of the affidavit, the extension of the time window a person could receive an abortion, a study on the needs and resources available for unborn and newborn children, the licensing of pregnancy resource centers, protection of access to birth control and contraceptives, the clarification that ectopic pregnancies and placental abruptions be considered as a risk to the life of the mother, the allowance of abortion because of religious beliefs and the beginning of life insurance, child support and tax deductions at conception.

late end

After the session was delayed from 1:30 to 5:00, the second reading of SB 1 took just over five hours, ending after midnight. Because of the late end, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray said the third reading and vote on SB 1 will come on Saturday.