John Krull commentary: Across the nation, ‘Hoosiers are a preview of coming attractions’
Sacramento, California -- Indiana followed me across the country. Most places I stopped as I meandered my way to the west coast, people along my route asked what was going on in my home state. A woman at a bookstore in Iowa City says she had been getting action alerts and updates about big doings in the Hoosier state from her women’s rights groups. A guy at a restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska, asks why everyone seems to be so upset in Indiana. At a gastropub in Salt Lake City, the young server wants to know how ugly the fight over…
Abortion bill advances to full Senate after hours of emotional testimony and debate
Indiana’s Senate Bill 1, a total ban on abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, narrowly made it out of committee Tuesday despite having a Republican majority. As the Indiana Senate Rules and Legislative Procedure Committee wrapped up a combined seven hours of public testimony, 61 people testified, with those opposing abortion saying the bill lacks teeth and does not go far enough while pro-abortion testifiers said it goes much too far. The bill still passed with seven in favor and five opposed. While the committee held testimony and voted on amendments in the Senate chamber, chants…
Special session likely to ban abortion begins with day of raucous protest
Nobody seemed happy with Senate Bill 1 at the Indiana Statehouse on Monday. Hundreds of pro- and anti-abortion protestors argued, chanted, stomped and waved signs both inside and outside the Statehouse as lawmakers began a special session expected to ban abortion in Indiana. Hours of public testimony, protests and press conferences showed that nobody was satisfied with SB 1—not even Vice President Kamala Harris, who traveled to Indianapolis to speak on the issue. “The government should not be telling an individual what to do, especially as it relates to one of the most intimate and personal decisions a woman could…
John Krull commentary: A time for adults to be adults
Someday—soon, I hope—the fever will break, and we will find ourselves asking the same questions about this delirious, delusional age. Why were we so crazy?, we will ask. Why did we have to be so mean? The saga of the 10-year-old girl who was raped and had to travel to Indiana from Ohio to get an abortion serves as evidence of just how insane we have become. It is a tale in which too many adults behaved like children—and ill-bred children at that—and the real child was victimized, again and again, by grownups who should have served as her defenders…
Abortion ban legislation is likely already in final form, says analyst
One of the state’s leading political analysts believes Republican leadership already has enough votes to pass Senate Bill 1 in its current form but there will be attempts to amend it. On Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, and Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, unveiled a total ban on abortion in the state of Indiana, with only exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. “I think it’s safe to say there will be amendments,” said Dr. Andrew Downs, associate professor and director of the Department of Political Science at Purdue University Fort Wayne. One of the…
Proposed abortion ban to allow exceptions, would not increase criminal penalties
Indiana’s Senate Bill 1 proposes a total ban on abortions with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, and Sen. Sue Glick, R-LaGrange, held a press conference Wednesday in the Senate Chamber to release the much-anticipated legislation, to be taken up during a special session beginning July 25. Senate Bill 2, a sister bill to SB 1, would seek to improve existing support services for new mothers and their infants. Bray also described Senate Bill 3, which would use the state’s budget surplus to provide $1 billion in financial relief…