Marion County Superior Court Judge Heather Welch ruled against Indiana’s near-total abortion ban on the grounds of religious freedom on Dec. 2.
The ban has been temporarily blocked since September 2022 after a ruling from Monroe County Judge Kelsey B. Hanlon.
The plaintiffs in that case argued that the abortion ban would violate the Indiana Constitution, according to a September 2022 release from the American Civil Liberties Union.
According to a release from the ACLU, the court blocked the ban a second time on the basis that it likely violates Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Indiana was the first state to pass an abortion ban after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade earlier this year. Under the law, abortions are not allowed unless a pregnancy poses a serious health risk to the mother, the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest or the fetus is diagnosed with a lethal abnormality.
