Restrictions on Low-Income Women's Access to Abortion

Indiana prohibits public funding for abortion for women eligible for state medical assistance for general health care unless necessary to preserve the life of the woman, where rape or incest caused the pregnancy, or if the pregnancy creates a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.  Ind. Admin. Code tit. 405, r. 5-28-7; Ind. Health Coverage Programs, Ind. Health Coverage Programs Provider Manual, § 8-317 (March 2005) at http://www.indianamedicaid.com/ihcp/Manuals/Provider/chapter08_part4.pdf; Humphreys v. Clinic for Women, Inc., 796 N.E.2d 247 (Ind. 2003).

In Humphreys, the Indiana Supreme Court expanded state medical assistance for abortion by holding that the Medicaid program violated the Indiana Constitution to the extent that it denied assistance for abortion to pregnant women at serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.  Humphreys v. Clinic for Women, Inc., 796 N.E.2d 247 (Ind. 2003).  The court found unconstitutional and unenforceable several statutes and regulations that did not include such assistance.  Ind. Code Ann. § 12-15-5-1(17) (Enacted 1990; Recodified 1992), Ind. Code Ann. § 16-34-1-2 (Enacted 1979; Recodified 1993), Ind. Admin. Code tit. 405, r. 5-28-7.