(Fort Wayne) News Sentinel
If you wanted to get a tough bill on a controversial social issue passed, next year would seem to be the perfect time to do it. Republicans will still have their lock on the governor’s office and supermajorities in both House and Senate. And Washington and most state governments will also be under Republican control.
Those facts are most certainly on the mind of State Rep. Curt Nisly, R-Goshen, whose “Protection at Conception” legislation would outlaw and criminalize all forms of abortion in Indiana. All abortions would be a crime and prosecutors could file charges against those who participate in the procedure.
“You would treat the death of an unborn child like you would any other human being,” Nisley said.
But Republicans have been burned in the last few years by courts declaring their social legislation unconstitutional, so they will likely be very reluctant to tackle a bill that would almost certainly be overturned. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade and subsequent decisions have effectively established a woman’s right to an abortion before viability of the fetus.
Furthermore, the majority Republicans in the General Assembly seem reluctant to take on any social issue in the coming term. House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said the focus will be on the budget, roads and education, not items including LGBT protections and abortion.
“People in Indiana feel very strongly about some of these core issues, and they don’t agree on them today,” he said. “So to force a solution that makes one side or the other a winner, or loser, is a very difficult situation that’s probably not right for Hoosiers.”
State legislators will no doubt be looking to see what kind of justice President Trump appoints to the Supreme Court. If the appointment results in a solid five-member majority for conservatives, that would give a green light to Republicans in all the red states. A reversal of Roe v. Wage is probably a stretch, but after this year’s presidential election, who knows what is possible?
People do feel very passionately about social issues, but these are areas where drastic change is not urgently needed. Given that fact and the state’s real and pressing basic needs, there probably won’t be a great number of social-issue changes proposed next year.
And that’s all right.
This was distributed by Hoosier State Press Association. Send comments to [email protected].
