WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sent a mixed message on abortion, refusing to consider reinstating Indiana’s ban on abortions performed because of foetal disability or the sex or race of the foetus while upholding the state’s requirement that foetal remains be buried or cremated after the procedure is done.
Both provisions were part of a Republican-backed 2016 law signed by Vice President Mike Pence when he was Indiana’s governor. The action by the justices comes at a time when numerous Republican-governed states including Alabama are approving restrictive abortion laws that the Supreme Court may be called upon to rule on in the future.
In an unsigned ruling, with two liberal justices dissenting, the Supreme Court decided that a lower court was wrong to conclude that Indiana’s foetal burial provision, which imposed new requirements on abortion clinics, had no legitimate purpose. The court has a 5-4 conservative majority.
While that provision was not a direct challenge to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide, the ruling gave anti-abortion proponents a victory at the Supreme Court, which soon may have to decide whether various state laws violate the rights recognised in that landmark ruling.
But the court also indicated a reluctance to directly tackle the abortion issue at least for now, rejecting Indiana’s separate attempt to reinstate its ban on abortions performed because of foetal disability or the sex or race of the foetus. The court left in place the part of an appeals court ruling that struck down the provision.
Alyssa Farah, a Pence spokeswoman, said he “commends the Supreme Court for upholding a portion of Indiana law that safeguards the sanctity of human life by requiring that remains of aborted babies be treated with respect and dignity.”
“We remain hopeful that at a later date the Supreme Court will review one of numerous state laws across the U.S. that bar abortion based on sex, race or disability,” Farah added.
The court’s ruling on the foetal burial issue noted that in challenging the measure the American Civil Liberties Union and women’s healthcare and abortion provider Planned Parenthood did not allege that the provision implicated the right of women to obtain an abortion.
“This case, as litigated, therefore does not implicate our cases applying the undue burden test to abortion regulations,” the ruling said.
Planned Parenthood said in a statement the foetal burial provision was an abortion restriction “intended to shame and stigmatize women and families.”
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