‘I feel they are taking our rights away’: Tensions rise as Indiana Legislature meets in special session to debate abortion ban legislation

MERRILLVILLE, Indiana — As the Indiana Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure committee meeting was about to start Monday morning, people packed the hallways outside the Senate chamber and viewing area — the majority of people yelling slogans supportive of abortion rights — as the General Assembly gathered for a special session where it will likely will ban abortion with few exceptions in the state.

Outside the statehouse, a group of people with pro-abortion rights signs covered a man with a “pro-choice” sign depicting a dead baby. Another group of pro-abortion rights people stood around a man playing an electric keyboard and singing religious songs. Another man was holding a red baby doll and yelling “save the babies,” as a group of people with pro-abortion rights signs covered and yelled over him.

The Indiana Legislature officially met to start a special session to address a taxpayer refund and a bill banning abortion in Indiana.

The session began July 6, but Republican leadership delayed the start until Monday to prepare an abortion bill following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Under Indiana law, the session has to end by Aug. 14, but legislators plan to pass the bill within two weeks, officials said.

Last week, Republicans announced their abortion bill celebrating that it gives exceptions for rape, incest and health of the mother. But, legal and medical experts have criticized the bill for being a total ban because it does not list a gestational period and states that a fetus develops from the moment of implantation.

More than 300 people signed up to testify on the bill, with more than 50 people speaking over the course of five-plus hours. Testimony showed that Senate Bill 1 was unpopular from both sides of the issue — abortion rights supporters called the bill an assault on women’s autonomy, while anti-abortion supporters said they would accept nothing less than a total ban on abortion. Very few people testified in support of the bill. The chants from protesters in the hallways were audible, particularly early in the hearing and every time someone opened the door to the chamber.

Ariel Ream, who is currently under going in-vitro fertilization treatment, told the Senate that the proposed law is putting women like her at risk.

“My husband and I trying to have baby through IVF, which some in this room have called an abomination. My husband is terrified, and he is scared to continue with IVF,” Ream said. “When is it enough? When am I hemorrhaging enough to be able to get care?

“Who gets to decide if the abnormalities are fatal enough? This puts my rights at risk to build my family.”

Dr. Casandra Cashman spoke about the problems with the bill’s affidavit requirement if a woman seeks an abortion in the case of rape or incest. She mentioned a case of a minor under the age of 14 years old, who had been raped by a first-degree family member. She helped the girl access abortion, and when she spoke to the girl’s mother, she found that the mom was aware of the assault as the mother had been a victim of a similar assault when she was a girl.

Gary native Jennifer Crossley, who is a Monroe County Council member, told her abortion story as the final person to testify Monday afternoon. When her daughter was eight months old, Crossley found out that she was pregnant again even though she was on birth control.

“I decided that I couldn’t have two kids under age of 1 in day care,” Crossley said. “For years, I told no one because I thought my family would judge me. Now, I’m 39 years old, and I no longer feel ashamed.

“Everyone (in this room) is pro-choice because that is a choice you are making.”

Kerrie Jensen, 48, of Noblesville, said she and her daughter Marissa Jensen, 17, came to the statehouse Monday to be “the voice for people who can’t speak.”

“I don’t want my state to be known for killing babies,” Kerrie Jensen said.

Marissa Jensen, 17, said she grew up in the foster care system, and she dislikes the narrative that if a baby were to be given up to the foster care system then the fetus should be aborted.

“I’m here because they say I don’t deserve to be here,” Marissa Jensen said.

Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor, an Indianapolis Democrat, and state Sen. Eddie Melton, a Gary Democrat, countered some of the testimony from several anti-abortion pastors.

“It’s very dangerous to have one religion to guide our morality,” Taylor said. “This is about women and their rights; it’s not about religion.”

Vice President Kamala Harris was in Indianapolis on Monday morning to meet with legislators to talk about protecting reproductive rights.

The session day started at 10 a.m. with the House gaveling in to formally start the special session by reading the rules and the proclamation Gov. Eric Holcomb signed in June to call for a special session.

Former state Sen. Karen Tallian came to the statehouse Monday to support the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and those who support abortion rights that gathered to rally throughout the day.

“I hate that I’m coming back for this,” Tallian said. “We thought we won this war 50 years ago.”

Tallian said she’s heard from colleagues that there’s conflict among the Republicans in the statehouse because some members want the proposed bill to not have exceptions for rape and incest and to penalize doctors who perform abortions.

“I think there’s going to be a fight amongst the Republicans on what the bill says,” Tallian said.

Ahead of the ACLU of Indiana rally, pro-abortion rights protesters stood inside the statehouse atrium, looking over balconies two stories up, chanting “we dissent”; “my body, my choice”; “not the church, not the state, women should decide their fate”; among other chants. At one point, a handful of anti-abortion people mixed in with the pro-abortion rights people, who held their signs higher blocking the anti-abortion messages.

Katie Blair, director of advocacy and public policy for ACLU of Indiana, said the reversal of Roe v. Wade reverses decades of progress for reproductive justice.

Abortion is health care, Blair said, and ending access to legal abortions will disproportionally impact Black, transgender and poor people. The decision if and when to have an abortion is between a patient and doctor, she said.

The Legislature is listening to an “extreme minority” by proposing the current abortion bill, Blair said, as she pointed above her where anti-abortion people were standing on the balcony.

“Our power together can and will change the world,” Blair said.

Rima Shahid, CEO of Women4Change Indiana, said Indiana’s current abortion laws are already restrictive, requiring consent for a minor to receive an abortion or required counseling in which false information is given about abortion.

“We won’t go back and we won’t back down,” Shahid said.

Amy Caldwell, an obstetrician and gynecologist with Indiana University School of Medicine, said she came to Indiana “to provide comprehensive reproductive health care,” which includes everything from delivering babies, treating bladder infections and providing abortions.

Caldwell said she has heard from patients who tell her that if they continue a pregnancy it ties them to an abusive partner or that pregnancy is not a part of their life plan.

“It’s my job to listen because abortion is health care,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell said she will continue to do her job, but that she needs pro-abortion rights people to continue advocating for access to safe and legal abortions.

“Keep demanding that abortion is health care,” Caldwell said.

The Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund, senior pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ Indianapolis, said that her mother had five children. When her mother learned of being pregnant for the fifth time, which was with Lund, she was upset, Lund said.

When her mother’s doctor saw that she was upset, Lund said they talked about abortion as a possibility. Lund said she was glad that her mother was presented with choices and that she had the opportunity to make the best choice for her and her family.

“I am sorry for the harm that is being done to girls and women in the name of God,” Lund said.

Rebecca Gibron, CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky, was booed by a handful of anti-abortion protesters when she walked up to speak but those supportive of abortion rights quickly cheered over the booing.

Gibron said that 80% of Hoosiers support abortion access, and that legislators “are out of sync in Indiana with Hoosiers — the people they’re supposed to represent.”

“This is about so much more than abortion. This is about controlling your bodies and destiny,” Gibron said.

Julie Sausman, 54, of Portage, said she came to rally for reproductive justice because “it’s important to support the younger generation.”

“I feel powerless. I feel they are taking our rights away,” Sausman said. “It’s extremism. It’s religious views turning into a legislative agenda.”

Madison Armstrong, 15, of Kokomo, at one point joined the group of pro-abortion rights people covering the sign of the dead baby. She said she did it because she felt compelled to help.

“I saw an exit and I took it,” Armstrong said. “I need to be a part of that.”

Deb Chubb, of LaPorte County and executive director of Indiana Women’s Action Movement, said she came to the rally because “we have to make sure we’re heard.”

“It is unbelievable,” Chubb said of the proposed abortion bill. “The obvious solution is to elect pro-choice women.”