Indiana’s top court hearing challenge to state abortion ban

By TOM DAVIES
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The fate of Indiana’s Republican-backed abortion ban is going before the state Supreme Court as it hears arguments on whether it violates privacy protections under the state constitution. Abortions have been allowed to continue in Indiana since a county judge blocked the law from being enforced in September. Indiana became the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in June. The arguments being made Thursday before the Indiana justices come after the top courts in two other conservative states split this month on similar state constitutional challenges to their abortion bans, with South Carolina’s ban being struck down and Idaho’s being upheld.