Judge Blocks Indiana Mandate Requiring Ultrasound Hours Before Abortion

A federal judge has blocked an Indiana mandate that required women to get an ultrasound at least 18 hours before having an abortion procedure.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt issued a preliminary injunction Friday because of a lawsuit by the ACLU last year on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky that took on Indiana’s Department of Health and local officials, according to Reuters.

Pratt’s reason for granting the injunction was that the ultrasound mandate put an undue burden on low-income women and that it was unnecessary, Reuters reported. Only six Planned Parenthood locations in the region have ultrasound devices, making it costly for women to travel to these locations to get the procedures before having an abortion.

No compelling evidence was found that having ultrasounds the day before having an abortion, rather than on the same day, would cause women to change their minds about the abortion, The Associated Press reported.

The previous law had stated women were required to get an ultrasound before having an abortion, but did not have a specific period of time within which the ultrasound had to occur.

“Given the lack of evidence that the new ultrasound law has the benefits asserted by the state, the law likely creates an undue burden on women’s constitutional rights,” Pratt wrote in her decision, the AP reported.

The law was part of an abortion restrictions package signed into law by then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence last year.

Nine months ago, Pratt also struck down a provision from the same package that prohibited abortions based solely on a disability diagnosis.

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