By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
February 5, 2025
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office, representing the Indiana Department of Health, has reached a settlement with Voices for Life, agreeing to release termination of pregnancy reports in exchange for an end to the legal fight pending before the Court of Appeals of Indiana.
Under terms of the mutual release and settlement agreement, the health department will immediately make the TPRs, which physicians file with the state after they perform an abortion, available to the public. The agreement allows the IDOH to redact “personal health identifiers,” but it prohibits the redaction of information necessary “to determine whether a physician performed an abortion in accordance with Indiana law.” The parts of the TPRs that cannot be concealed from the public include the patient’s age and state of residence, the date of the procedure and type of abortion that was performed, the facility where the procedure took place, the physician’s name and the reason for the abortion.
In announcing the settlement, Melanie Garcia Lyon, executive director of Voices for Life, said making the TPRs public would benefit Hoosier women.
“The public release of these reports is a victory for vulnerable women and children in Indiana,” Garcia Lyon said in the statement. “Access to these reports will help ensure abortionists are held accountable for violating health and safety regulations.”
Voices for Life filed a motion to dismiss Tuesday, but the Court of Appeals has not issued a ruling.
This settlement agreement follows Gov. Mike Braun’s executive order, signed Jan. 21, that directed the health department to release the TPRs. Also, the agreement aligns with the official opinion issued by Rokita in April 2024, in which he asserted TPRs are public records and can be redacted to balance the privacy concerns of patients with the need of enforcement agencies to monitor compliance with state abortion laws or investigate complaints about alleged violations of such laws.
When Rokita released his opinion, he said the public has “a right to sue the state of Indiana” if the IDOH does not make the TPRs available.
The Indiana Department of Health did not provide any statement about the settlement, saying it could not comment on pending legal matters.
The attorney general’s office, which is representing the Department of Health before the Court of Appeals, declined to answer questions about the settlement and instead referred to the motion to dismiss that Voices for Life filed with the appellate court on Feb. 4. According to the motion, the parties reached an “amicable and equitable settlement.” Moreover, the motion stated, the settlement is “consistent with the claim for access to public records that (Voices for Life) has advanced in this litigation, the legal positions stated in the (attorney general’s) Advisory Opinion and Governor Mike Braun’s Executive Order.”
However, Stephanie Toti, executive director of the Lawyering Project, blasted the settlement, accusing the attorney general of negotiating a “backroom deal” with a “vigilante organization.” Toti is a member of the legal team representing Drs. Caitlin Bernard and Caroline Rouse, Indianapolis OB/GYNs who joined the TPR case as intervenors.
“We are deeply troubled that the Indiana Attorney General’s office tried to conceal its backroom deal with an anti-abortion vigilante organization from the public,” Toti said in a statement to The Indiana Citizen. “The personal health information of abortion patients should remain private, and disclosing it to vigilantes puts the safety of both patients and doctors in jeopardy.”
Voices for Life, an anti-abortion nonprofit based in South Bend, sued for access to the TPRs after the Department of Health stopped releasing them to the public in the fall of 2023. Previously, the state agency had made the reports available before changing its policy after Indiana’s near-total abortion ban took effect that August. The resulting dramatic drop in terminated pregnancies led the health department to withhold the TPRs out of concern that the few women still receiving abortion care could be identified from the information contained in the documents.
In September 2024, Marion County Superior Court ruled against Voices for Life. The trial court reviewed the state statute and determined that under Indiana law, TPRs are not public records.
Voices for Life filed notice of appeal in October and, in a January motion asking the appellate court for more time to file its brief, revealed the then-ongoing settlement negotiations. The nonprofit told the court that it had been notified by the attorney general’s office that the health department had changed its position and “now concedes” that TPRs were subject to disclosure under Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act.
Three days later, Voices for Life and the attorney general’s office filed a joint motion requesting that the court designate the January motion as confidential and restrict public access to the document. According to the joint motion, Voices for Life had shown the attorney general’s office its motion, but submitted it to the court before the state’s lawyers could respond.
“The parties argued the court filing should be shielded from the public because, at that time, negotiations were still taking place and the terms of an agreement had not been finalized. “Rule and precedent declare the substance of settlement negotiations confidential and inadmissible, and this Court should enforce that confidentiality by designating the appellant’s motion confidential,” the joint motion said.
Bernard and Rouse submitted separate motions, opposing the motion for more time and pushing back on the joint motion for confidentiality. The physicians questioned why the attorney general’s office was participating in the settlement negotiations, since, the doctors claimed, the attorney general was not a party in the case.
Before the trial court, the Department of Health had been represented by the Indianapolis law firm of Lewis and Wilkins because Attorney General Rokita had, in his advisory, taken a position on TPRs that was contrary to the health department. However, at the Court of Appeals, the attorney general’s office is listed as representing the IDOH and its commissioner, Dr. Lindsay Weaver.
The intervening doctors also argued for more information as to why the health department changed its position on TPRs, arguing the public has an interest in transparency. In addition, the physicians indicated they are considering legal action to prevent the reports from being disclosed to the public.
Toti echoed the point that the legal battle may continue.
“We will continue to explore legal options on behalf of our clients to safeguard their patients’ personal information,” Toti said in her statement.
In announcing the settlement, Voices for Life noted that it had reviewed the termination of pregnancy reports in the past. The nonprofit claimed it had discovered nearly 700 instances of “apparent illegal activity among abortion providers” and filed complaints with the health department and attorney general’s office.
Thomas Olp, the executive vice president of the Thomas More Society, which had represented Voices for Life in this case, highlighted the nonprofit’s work in the battle against abortion.
“TPRs are essential to ensuring Indiana’s abortion laws are properly enforced,” Olp said in a statement. “By reviewing the state’s abortion records, Voices for Life tirelessly protects the safety and well-being of Indiana women and children.”
In his statement, Olp said the settlement agreement will also let Voices for Life continue to serve as “a watchdog” over Indiana medical providers who perform abortions.
Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
