Judge strikes down Indiana abortion complications report law

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has struck down an Indiana law that aimed to require reports from medical providers to the state if they treat women for complications arising from abortions.

U.S. District Judge Richard Young's ruling Wednesday that the law was unconstitutional came two years after Young granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect following its 2018 passage.

Young sided with Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky in its challenge to the law, which lists 26 physical or psychological conditions that could trigger the reporting requirement for doctors or clinics. The law made failure to do so a misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Young ruled that the law was “unconstitutionally vague,” writing that it gave doctors no clear guidance on questions such as how long after an abortion they would need to report a woman’s depression or trouble with a later pregnancy.

“The statute simply lacks any standard to guide physicians in determining whether a condition qualifies as an abortion complication for purposes of reporting,” Young wrote. “The indeterminacy of the statute’s requirements denies fair notice to physicians and invites arbitrary enforcement by prosecutors.”

The state attorney general’s office defended the law, telling Young that the reporting requirement “serves the public interest by collecting comprehensive data on the complications that may result from abortion and the frequency of those complications.”

Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill said in a statement Thursday that his office would “continue defending Indiana’s commonsense laws regulating the abortion industry.”

Hannah Brass Greer, chief legal counsel for Planned Parenthood of Indiana and...