India court limits countrywide pro-life law

The Indian Supreme Court struck down a law Thursday that protected babies after 20 weeks of pregnancy in cases when the mother was single. Now, all women are under India’s current law that protects babies only after 24 weeks. The court said that discriminating between single and married women violated India’s Constitution. Abortion has been legal in India since 1971. In 2021, the law was amended to allow women in certain situations to obtain abortions up to 24 weeks, raising it from the previous 20 weeks. 

What’s happening in the States? U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young ruled Wednesday against an Indiana law that says abortion centers must bury or cremate fetal remains. He said that requiring centers to treat an aborted fetus like a deceased person violates religious and free speech rights. The Supreme Court upheld the law in 2019. But the new lawsuit says the law trampled on everyone’s rights, not just one group’s. An Indiana attorney general’s office will appeal the ruling, The Indianapolis Star reported. 

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’ report in Vitals on abortion initiatives in five states.