Indiana judge blocks release of abortion records

A Marion County judge last week for the second time blocked the public release of state abortion records. Judge James A. Joven placed a temporary restraining order on the documents, known as terminated pregnancy reports or TPRs, for at least 10 days.

The plaintiffs who requested the order are two abortionists who wanted to block a pro-life group, Voices for Life, from accessing abortion records. The documents contain detailed information about each abortion performed in Indiana, including each woman’s age, race, marital status, medical history, county of residence, and reason for the abortion. The plaintiffs argued that such information could be used to identify the women and said the TPRs should not be treated as public records. Joven agreed with them in his decision.

The abortionists have asked for a preliminary injunction further prohibiting the release of the abortion records. Joven will make that decision after a March 12 hearing.

Why does Voices for Life want the abortion records? For several years, Voices for Life has used the records to catch and report instances of potential illegal activity. The group has sparked investigations into deaths of women during procedures and abortions on minors that weren’t adequately reported to the Indiana Department of Child Services. But after Indiana passed a law protecting unborn children from abortion in most cases, the state’s health department stopped releasing abortion reports. Voices for Life settled a lawsuit with the health department earlier this month over the matter, and the state agreed to release the records again while redacting some personal information. But Joven’s new decision means the records are still blocked for now.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’ report on why Voices for Life wants to dig through the records.