7th Circuit sides with Planned Parenthood over sharing abortion information with minors
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago on Tuesday rejected an Indiana “aid-or-assist” law, which prohibits physicians from helping minors obtain an abortion without first meeting the state’s parental consent requirements. (Image from Shutterstock)
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago on Tuesday rejected an Indiana “aid-or-assist” law, which prohibits physicians from helping minors obtain an abortion without first meeting the state’s parental consent requirements.
Planned Parenthood, which provides its clients with information about or referrals to medical providers who perform abortions in other states, brought the lawsuit challenging the Indiana law before it took effect in 2017. The district court issued a preliminary injunction, which stayed in effect until the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022.
After post-Dobbs abortion restrictions were initiated in Indiana in 2023, Planned Parenthood could no longer provide abortions but maintained that the state’s “aid-or-assist” law violated its First Amendment rights to share information about the procedure in other states with minors.
The district court granted summary judgment to Planned Parenthood in May 2024, and the 7th Circuit largely affirmed the injunction.
“Indiana officials may disagree with the purposes behind plaintiff’s speech and with the laws and policies of other states,” according to the 7th Circuit’s opinion. “They cannot, however, make it illegal to provide information about lawful conduct in other states. Nor can they apply Indiana’s own parental consent laws to out-of-state abortions.”
Courthouse News Service has additional coverage.
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