A Reagan-appointed federal judge on Tuesday ruled that a number of highly restrictive Indiana abortion laws were unconstitutional, saying that they illegally forced women to go through unnecessary inconvenience to obtain medical services, the Associated Press reports.
U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker, a senior judge in for the Southern District of Indiana, issued a permanent injunction against a state law banning telemedicine appointments for abortion patients. She also ordered an immediate halt to a state ban on telemedicine appointments for abortion medications and second trimester abortions.
Barker also ordered an immediate halt to a state law that requires abortion providers tell patients that human life begins when the egg is fertilized and that fetuses can feel pain at 20 weeks development; both statements are medically and ethically dubious. The state of Indiana is expected to appeal the ruling to the Seventh Circuit Court.