Hoosiers subjected to less freedom in Indiana than in authoritarian regimes

INDIANAPOLIS – Today, abortion becomes illegal in the State of Indiana with narrow exceptions. The enactment of Senate Bill 1 means Hoosiers will have less reproductive freedom in our state than in rights-abusing, authoritarian regimes. Some countries that are rightfully vilified by Americans for their grotesque treatment of women and girls now have more forgiving abortion laws. 

Indiana House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta (D-Fort Wayne) offered the following statement as Indiana regresses rights and liberties rendering women second-class citizens:

“America, the ‘Land of the Free?’” GiaQuinta questioned. “Free for whom? I’d protest that sentiment as the Indiana GOP has enacted one of the most radical, faithless pieces of legislation subverting the rights of millions of Hoosier women and girls. America used to be a country that led the world in progress towards democracy and human rights. The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade - ending the right for every American to obtain a safe, legal abortion - means our nation joins only 1 of 4 countries in recent years that have rolled back reproductive freedom once guaranteed. 

“It’s difficult to comprehend the magnitude of disgust as I watch mothers, sisters, nieces and coworker's rights stripped away from them. The complete and utter helplessness that comes from knowing that a doctor may be too afraid to make a life-saving medical decision, or a parent may be too afraid to seek out care after her young girl has been raped. Is that freedom? It can’t be.”