Supreme Court Sidesteps Abortion Question in Ruling on Indiana Law
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday sidestepped part of a case that could have tested the constitutional right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade.
In an apparent compromise, the court turned down an appeal seeking reinstatement of an Indiana law that banned abortions sought solely because of fetal characteristics like sex or disability. But the court upheld part of the same law requiring abortion providers to bury or cremate fetal remains.
The modest move on Tuesday left for another day the consideration of state laws limiting abortion that were enacted, at least partly, to challenge Roe v. Wade.
The court’s decision, issued without briefing on the merits or oral arguments, was unsigned and just three pages long. The court stressed that its decision upholding the fetal-remains provision “does not implicate our cases applying the undue burden test to abortion regulations.”
Indiana, the court said, has a “legitimate interest in proper disposal of fetal remains,” quoting an earlier decision.
In declining to hear an appeal concerning the law’s ban on some reasons for seeking abortions, the court said it was expressing no views on the constitutionality of such laws. Other appeals courts had not considered the issue, the unsigned opinion said, and a split among lower courts is ordinarily required for Supreme Court review.
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