Indiana May Make Abortion Reports Public Records

1.24.25

Read or click to skip ahead: In Privacy Under Attack, Indiana may start making abortion reports public records like birth and death certificates.

Trump & Abortion looks at fetal personhood language, the March for Life, and how Trump has pardoned two dozen violent anti-abortion activists.

What Conservatives Are Saying reminds you what Republicans mean when they talk about ‘clarifying’ an abortion ban.

In the States, Arizona Dems are trying to repeal restrictions after voters passed a pro-choice ballot measure, and a terrific New York bill that would allow providers to keep their names off abortion pill prescriptions.

Social Media Censorship provides an update on Meta blocking abortion pill content.

In the Nation, some quick hits.

Finally, Keep An Eye On Republicans who say they want to ‘streamline’ adoption processes.

---

Privacy Under Attack

For nearly a year, I’ve been writing about Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s personal crusade to make women’s abortion reports public records, like birth or death certificates. Now, thanks to newly-elected Republican Gov. Mike Braun, this absolute creep is going to get his wish.

A refresher: Indiana requires abortions be reported to the state in “terminated pregnancy reports” (TPRs), and they used to mandate that those TPRs be available to the public. TPRs don’t include patients’ names, but do contain other potentially-identifying information like age, city, county, education, marital status, race and ethnicity, date of the abortion, etc.

After Indiana passed its ban, only a handful of abortions were performed in the state—those that qualified for ‘exceptions’ like fatal fetal abnormalities or rape. So the department of health decided to release aggregate reports instead, worried that TPRs could be “reverse-engineered to identify patients—especially in smaller communities.”

Rokita was furious. He argued that women’s private abortion information “do[es] not belong to the patient,” and that “like death certificates, TPRs are public records open to public inspection.” So he joined forces with the anti-abortion group Voices for Life, which sued the state health department. (In other words, the Indiana health department had to defend itself from its own attorney general!)

Rokita claimed the only way he could arrest and prosecute abortion providers was by getting tips from third parties—namely, anti-abortion groups who would scour TPRs for alleged wrongdoing. In fact, Voices for Life reported that their “enforcement team” had used TPRs to submit over 700 complaints about supposed illegal actions since 2022. (These were generally complaints about doctors not filing reports on time or other red tape bullshit—nothing about patient safety.)

And that’s where it gets really interesting. The suit from Voices for Life, supported by Rokita, argued that the state legislature intended TPRs to be public records so that citizens “to examine whether abortion providers are complying with the law.” That’s a stunning argument: Republicans have long claimed that abortion reporting and data collection are done to protect patients—not to serve as tools for criminalization. But this lawsuit let the cat out of the bag.

A judge dismissed their lawsuit, siding with the department of health and keeping patient confidentiality intact. Until now.

This week, Gov. Braun signed an executive order that directs the state health department to “fully cooperate” with Rokita and states that the purpose of TPRs aren’t just to “improve” maternal health, but to “assure the abortions are done only under the authorized provisions of the law.”

When the Indiana Capital Chronicle asked Braun if that mean TPRs would become public records, the new governor replied, “I’m going to let them work that out.”

What I want to know is, doesn’t this new governor have anything better to do? I mean, really, he got this done in his first few days in office! It goes to show what Republican priorities really are.

Trump & Abortion

Speaking of Republican priorities, let’s talk about abortion rights under Trump so far: Earlier this week, I pointed out that the Trump administration snuck fetal personhood language into their new anti-trans executive order. Dana Sussman of Pregnancy Justice told The Guardian yesterday, “I don’t think it was a mistake.”

“I don’t think it was a coincidence. I think this was an intentional way to continue to normalize the idea that embryos are people. This is yet another attempt to codify it in one form or another.”

Law professor Mary Ziegler says it’s not clear if this is a sign that Trump will start down a “much bolder” fetal personhood road or if he’s just “throwing anti-abortion insiders a bone.”

Whatever it is, Republican leaders sure are happy about it! House Speaker Mike Johnson lauded Trump for the language of the executive order in his March for Life speech today:

“I don't know if you saw his executive order on gender but it defines life as beginning at conception rather than birth.”

Johnson then went on to tell the crowd that they were entering “a new era” for anti-abortion activism. (If you need a refresher on Johnson, by the way, I’ve got you covered.)

Let’s stick with the March for Life for a moment. The annual anti-abortion extravaganza took place in Washington, DC today, with video remarks by Trump and an in-person speech from JD Vance. Vance’s remarks, in particular, were a fucking doozy—so I’ll send you a separate email this weekend decoding what he said. (Really, it’s that bad.)

The cringiest comment of the day, however, goes to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who delivered a one-liner I just know he thought was brilliant:

"Since we were able to beat Amendment Four, Florida's not only the place where woke goes to die, it's the place where babies go to live."

Can a governor give you the ick?

And then there was Trump’s remarks at the March for Life—which were pretty much exactly what you would expect. He repeated all of the lines/lies we’ve come to hear over and over again, like how he made abortion “a vote of the people,” and his bizarre claim that people are performing ‘post-birth’ abortions:

“We will protect the historic gains we have made and stopped the radical Democrat push for a federal right to unlimited abortion on demand up to the moment of birth, and even after birth: Think of that, after birth; and some people want that, can you believe it.”

If you need a reminder of what Trump is really talking about when he says ‘post-birth’ abortion, check out my explainer video below:

themeteor

A post shared by @themeteor

Now, POLITICO reports that anti-abortion activists weren’t all that happy with the speeches from Trump and Vance, claiming that they didn’t make any firm or specific promises. But I think they’re playing down how pleased they were. Especially because Trump, Vance and other speakers all mentioned something that’s near and dear to the antis’ hearts: the ability to harass abortion providers and patients.

Vance assured today’s protesters that “no longer will our government throw pro-life protesters and activists…in prison,” pointing to the fact that Trump pardoned nearly two dozen violent anti-abortion activists, ten of whom who attacked a Washington DC abortion clinic. ( Our felon president called the extremists “peaceful,” saying that “they should not have been prosecuted.”)

Trump also gave himself a pat on the back for “releasing the Christians and pro-life activists who were persecuted by the Biden regime for praying and living out their faith.”

I’ve been warning about this forever, but the comments still sent a chill down my spine: They’re talking about making it easier for violent extremists to harass and hurt patients, doctors and staff. I’ll have more on this in my breakdown of Vance’s speech tomorrow, but whew.

What Conservatives Are Saying

You know I love talking about anti-abortion language and messaging clues. So if you missed the news that Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he thinks Republicans should ‘clarify’ the state’s abortion ban to be safer for women, please make sure to read it now.

Over the last two days, I’ve seen dozens of headlines making it appear as if the Republican is softening on abortion—which is exactly the point. This is a PR move, plain and simple.

If you read my book, you may remember that I wrote a section on the word ‘clarify’: conservative lawmakers use it to pretend they’re making a law better while they actually craft something even more dangerous. (Excerpt here.)

We’re going to see a lot of these kinds of moves from the GOP—especially as more women die. So please make sure you’re up to date on all their bullshit language tricks.

In the States

Arizona voters may have passed a pro-choice ballot measure, but abortion restrictions in the state remain—including a 15-week abortion ban, waiting periods and more. Democrats in the state are working to repeal those restrictions, pointing out that Prop. 139 passed with over 61% of the vote. From Arizona Sen. Analise Ortiz:

“Voters made it clear with Proposition 139 that they do not want politicians interfering with their healthcare decisions, yet we still have laws on the books that impact abortion access. It’s time to respect the will of the voters and repeal those laws.”

Democrats face an uphill battle in the legislature, but there’s already a lawsuit underway over the 15-week ban and some providers have already started to give care past that cut-off. That’s in large part because Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes made clear that they won’t prosecute doctors who provide abortions after 15 weeks.

This is sad news: Jezebel reports that Planned Parenthood of Illinois is shutting down four abortion clinics and laying off staff in the middle of a “financial shortfall.” The clinics shuttering offered medication abortions, along with other reproductive healthcare like birth control and STI testing. The group says the increase in out-of-state patients, along with rising costs of care, contributed to their budget issues.

As popular as abortion rights are, this is an issue we’ve seen across the country: Abortion funds, organizations, clinics and more are feeling the strain as they’re overwhelmed with too many patients and not enough money.

In better news: The New York Senate and Assembly passed legislation this week that will keep providers’ names off abortion medication prescription labels. Senate Bill S36A and Assembly Bill A2145A will allow those dispensing abortion medication to put the name of their practice on the prescriptions labels instead—making it more difficult for out-of-state prosecutors to target individual providers.

The legislation comes just weeks after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a suit against a New York provider who prescribed medication to a woman in his state. One of the reasons that Paxton was able to file the suit because the woman’s boyfriend—hopefully now an ex—discovered the prescription label after searching her apartment.

New York Sen. Shelley B. Mayer, who sponsored the legislation, said she was proud to “protect the brave doctors who are taking on significant personal risk to help women in need access reproductive care.”

“We, in New York, will continue to fight for our sisters across state lines whose futures, health, and well-being are threatened and the doctors serving them.”

The legislation now heads to the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is expected to sign. Washington has a similar law, and I know abortion rights activists are hoping to see other states pick it up as well. (Looking at you next, California!)

Quick hits:

• CREW reveals 14 companies that supported abortion access for employees but gave money to anti-abortion politicians in Louisiana.

• Planned Parenthood of Michigan says that the number of out-of-state abortion patients has been triple what they saw before Roe was overturned.

• And in the best troll I’ve seen in a while, a Mississippi Democrat introduced a bill called the “Contraception Begins at Erection Act” that would make it illegal for men to masturbate “without the intent to fertilize an embryo.”

Social Media Censorship

A few days ago, I broke the news that Meta was censoring vital abortion content—specifically, information about how to get abortion medication. Groups like Aid Access and mayday.health—which provide abortion pills—had their posts blocked and blurred on Instagram. And Aid Access’ Facebook account was deleted entirely.

That content has since been restored, but it’s a chilling preview of what access to abortion information might look like over the next four years. Because while these abortion rights organizations have faced social media censorship in the past, Mark Zuckerberg’s new cozy relationship with Trump casts a new and deeply troubling light on the issue.

The 19th has a good piece on social media companies' long history of censoring abortion-related and feminist content; they also highlight some of the great work that Reproaction has done to combat those attacks.

I also have to say that I very much appreciate The 19th crediting me with breaking the news about Meta’s abortion censorship. (It would have been nice if The New York Times did the same!)

In the Nation

• Ms. magazine interviews Carrie Baker about her new book, Abortion Pills.

• The Hill reports that both sides of the abortion debate expect Trump to be far more involved in abortion rights than he claimed on the campaign trail.

• Teen Vogue asks an OBGYN questions about some common contraception myths.

• Elisha Brown at States Newsroom writes about ‘viability’ restrictions and what that’s meant for abortion rights since the fall of Roe.

• The Associated Press has a brief rundown of some of the anti-abortion legislation we’ve seen since the start of the year.

• And the world is waiting to hear what Trump is going to do on the Global Gag rule.

Keep An Eye On

Since we started the newsletter with Indiana, let’s end there, too. You may remember that Republicans in the state introduced a bill that would ban abortion medication entirely, and require rape victims to sign an affidavit (under penalty of perjury!) before being allowed care. So, all-around shit show.

In addition to that radical bill and the attack on medical privacy mentioned earlier, anti-abortion activists in Indiana are also eying the millions of dollars earmarked for crisis pregnancy centers. This week, Mark Tuttle, president of Right to Life in Indiana, said, we have about $6.25 million set aside” for the groups.

But it’s what Tuttle said about adoption that caught my attention most. He talked to a reporter about “streamlining” Indiana’s adoption process. This is language I’ve been flagging since 2022: We’ve seen Republicans in Alabama and Georgia talking about ‘streamlining’ the adoption process, and who could forget when Tennessee lawmakers said they wanted to “make it easier, cheaper and faster to adopt.”

Republicans claim that making it easier for women to place their babies for adoption is just a way to help them adjust to their post-Roe reality. In truth, the move is about making it easier to terminate parental rights and remove children from their homes. (And we know which parents are going to be targeted most.) When you consider that crisis pregnancy centers, ‘maternity homes’ and the baby box folks all have connections to evangelical adoption agencies, the whole thing gets a lot more sinister.