New state regulations for clinics
will help limit abortions

By Mary Ann Wyand

New state regulations for abortion clinics will help limit legalized abortion, two Church officials said on May 15, because the recently signed law requires providers to pass Indiana Department of Health inspections to qualify for licensing like hospitals, outpatient surgery centers and nursing homes.

On May 10, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a law requiring abortion clinics to be licensed and surveyed regularly. It is based on rules developed from a bill passed during the 2005 legislative session.

The law stipulates that clinics must comply with specific standards for medical

procedures—including anesthesia and surgery—as well as rules for governance, operation and facilities that require following established policies, maintaining accurate medical records and providing informed consent facts about abortion and alternatives to every client.

Servants of the Gospel of Life Sister Diane Carollo, director of the archdiocesan Office for Pro-Life Ministry, said the governor “sent a powerful message to abortion providers by signing legislation that would impose regulations for all abortion clinics in the state.”

Sister Diane said “the message is that the abortion industry’s days of unregulated operations are over.”

She said “the myth that abortion is as harmless as a manicure is being dispelled with the introduction of health inspectors and the enforcement of informed consent information to women” as required by Indiana law.

“Of course, the ultimate goal of the pro-life movement is to outlaw the abortion industry,” she said, “as definitively as American society put an end to the slavery industry in the 19th century.”

Glenn Tebbe, director of the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC), the Church’s public policy organization in the state, was present when Daniels signed the bill into law at the Statehouse. It will go into effect on July 1.

“The Indiana Catholic Conference is pleased that the regulations will now become law,” Tebbe said. “ICC supported the law that authorized the [state] Department of Health to develop the rules.

“While the Indiana Catholic Conference does not support abortion,” he emphasized, “the Church is concerned for the health and well-being of all persons. Since abortion is a surgical procedure, the state of Indiana has a responsibility to monitor the health and welfare of patients in abortion facilities.”

Tebbe said the public has “a right to expect—and government has the responsibility to impose—such regulation and accountability in the interest of public health and safety.”

A statement on the Indiana Right to Life Web site applauded the legislature’s and governor’s actions. “Not only will health inspectors have full authority to inspect abortion clinics on a regular and frequent basis,” the Right to Life statement noted, “but the state will have the enforcement power needed to ensure that abortion clinics are providing informed consent information to women as required by law.” †