INDems Statement on Final Passage of Senate Bill 1

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Democratic Party today issued the following statement from Vice Chair Myla Eldridge after the Republican supermajority in the Indiana General Assembly approved Senate Bill 1, legislation that would force birth on women and young girls across Indiana. This includes rape and incest survivors who may not be able to reach the measure's draconian standards:

"The Indiana Republican Party has now made it against the law for Hoosiers to have a safe and legal abortion, and it's without a doubt Senate Bill 1 will endanger women and little girls' lives across the state. This mandate is the worst form of government overreach, and it's why Indiana Democrats implore Governor Eric Holcomb to veto this legislation and tell his own Indiana GOP that they have once again crossed the line and are too extreme for Hoosier families.

Should he sign Senate Bill 1 into law, Holcomb will create an Indiana where women and even young girls will be forced to give birth and see their lives put at risk due to unwanted or dangerous pregnancies. This includes rape and incest survivors, because as it stands, the bill's red lines on these exceptions are too extreme and will create numerous instances of survivors coming forward way too late - especially our girls. Further, many health care providers have made it clear they could be forced to wait until a woman or child is near death before invoking a life-saving abortion. They will be forced between abiding by the state's dangerous ideology or adhering to their Hippocratic Oaths.

A woman's health care decisions should be left between her and her doctor - not politicians. With Senate Bill 1, Indiana Republicans are invading a person's right to privacy and are actively making women second-class citizens. Republicans have shown Hoosiers they put an extremist agenda first, and now is the time for voters to hold them accountable. Voters in red-leaning Kansas made it crystal clear that being pro-choice should be an American right, and Indiana Democrats will work with the majority of Hoosiers to elect pro-choice candidates this fall so that the this state's Republican supermajority can finally meet its rightful demise."

- Myla Eldridge, Vice Chair of the Indiana Democratic Party

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