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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s permanent injunction on a portion of Indiana’s “aid-or-assist” law concerning whether actors like Planned Parenthood can offer information and out-of-state referrals to minors seeking an abortion.
In affirming the district court’s opinion, the 7th Circuit concluded that the state’s “aid-or-assist” law imposes a content-based restriction on protected speech and fails to meet strict scrutiny under the First Amendment. The state’s “aid-or-assist” law, passed in 2017, forbids helping a minor receive an abortion without parental consent.
Before the law went into effect, Planned Parenthood sued Indiana officials under the First Amendment to enjoin the law’s enforcement to the organization’s practice of offering minors information on abortion providers in other states when the minor seeks it without parental consent.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana issued a preliminary injunction in 2017, which the state did not appeal.
Seven years later, the district court issued a thorough opinion to explain why it was narrowing the now-permanent injunction against enforcement of the law specifically as it applies to providing information on out-of-state abortion providers.
Defendants appealed the move, and the 7th Circuit’s opinion followed. The opinion, authored by Judge David Hamilton, was issued Tuesday.
In affirming the district court’s injunction, the 7th Circuit found that the aid-or-assist law excessively hampers the dissemination of factual information that’s protected under the First Amendment and pertains to lawful conduct in other states.
The 7th Circuit’s ruling also modifies the injunction so that it no longer includes the Indiana Department of Health commissioner because the change in Indiana’s abortion laws means Planned Parenthood can’t have an abortion license in the state and therefore can’t be sanctioned by the commissioner.
7th Circuit Judge Michael Scudder Jr. concurs, stating that the aid-or-assist law overreaches solely because of the statute’s notary requirement, which asks that a parent’s signature be notarized on an abortion consent form.
The case is Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky Inc. V. Commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health et al, 24-2219.
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