Abortion Advocates Just Flipped the Script on Mike Pence’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Legacy in Indiana

Mike Pence doesn’t mince words about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. “I’m pro-life. I don’t apologize for it,” the former vice president told David Axelrod in a recent interview. “It’s a deeply held conviction for me and for my family,” he said, citing religious beliefs. But in a twist of irony, a second judge blocked Indiana’s strict abortion ban on religious grounds late last week, based on a law Pence himself enacted as governor of the Hoosier state almost a decade ago. 

Judge Heather Welch ruled that the law, which prohibits abortion at 10 weeks of pregnancy with narrow exceptions, “substantially burdens” the religious exercise of five women, as part of a lawsuit backed by the Indiana American Civil Liberties Union. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that the ban violates Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law Pence signed in 2015, barring the government from infringing on one’s religious beliefs or practices (a highly controversial law that was heavily criticized for initially allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people). 

Specifically, the lawsuit hinges on disputing that life begins “at conception”—arguing that this is not a belief held across all religions. “For example, under Jewish law, a fetus attains the status of a living person only at birth,” the lawsuit reads, according to IndyStar. “Jewish law recognizes that abortions may occur, and should occur as a religious matter, under circumstances not allowed by (the near-total abortion ban) or existing Indiana law.” (The five women in the lawsuit practice Judaism, Islam, Unitarian Universalism, Episcopalianism, or paganism.) 

Welch sided with the plaintiffs, saying in her decision that “undisputed evidence demonstrates, based on actual facts, that the Plaintiffs are suffering injury and altering their behavior at the current time solely because of” the state’s new abortion law. It represents the second time the abortion ban has been blocked by Indiana’s courts since it was signed into law in August. Back in September, another judge issued a temporary injunction against the law on privacy grounds in a separate lawsuit backed by Planned Parenthood and others. The Indiana Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in this case in January. If appealed, the Supreme Court would also rule on the legality of the latest injunction. 

“Abortion is legal in Indiana today. This preliminary injunction acts as a second layer of protection, ensuring the rights of Hoosiers on the grounds of religious freedom,” Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana legal director, said in a statement. “This decision represents another crucial victory for abortion access, and we will continue to fight this ban until it is blocked for good.”

Welch’s ruling came a day after Pence appeared on The Axe Files, where he said he will continue to push for an abortion ban despite the electoral toll the issue took on the Republican Party in the midterms. “It may take us as long to restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in all 50 states as it took us to overturn Roe v. Wade, but for as long as I live, I will be a champion for the unborn and a champion for the sanctity of life,” Pence, who has been rumored as a possible 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said. “I just trust the American people to sort this out in a way that’s consistent with their values and their aspirations.”