Voices for Life v. Indiana Department of Health (Indiana)

Case No. 49D02-2405-MI-019876 (Ind. Super. Ct.)

An anti-abortion organization filed this lawsuit to compel the Indiana Department of Health to publicly disclose terminated pregnancy reports (TPRs). These reports—which physicians are required to submit for every abortion they provide in Indiana—contain 31 data points about the patient, including demographic information like age, county and state of residence, marital status, race, and ethnicity; and details about the patient’s medical history and the circumstances of their abortion. Multiple state agencies have concluded that such data could be reverse engineered to identify individual patients.

Two Indiana physicians, Drs. Caitlin Bernard and Caroline Rouse, intervened in the lawsuit to prevent the anti-abortion organization from obtaining their patient’s private medical information.

Although the Department of Health initially declined demands to release the TPRs, the Indiana Attorney General launched a political pressure campaign against the Health Department, calling for release of the patient data.

Earlier, in 2023, the same Attorney General filed disciplinary charges against Dr. Bernard at the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana for disclosing that she provided abortion care to an unnamed 10-year-old abuse victim from Ohio who was unable to obtain care in her home state following enactment of an abortion ban there. Ohio voters subsequently approved a ballot initiative that enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution. The minimal information Dr. Bernard shared about her Ohio patient pales in comparison to the extensive information contained in the TPRs. The Attorney General’s inconsistent positions in these cases demonstrate an intent to harass and intimidate abortion patients and providers using all means available to him.

In February 2025, the superior court dismissed the anti-abortion organization’s lawsuit. While the dismissal was on appeal, the Attorney General took over representation of the Health Department, which then entered into a settlement agreement with the plaintiff, agreeing to “[i]mmediately release terminated pregnancy reports as public records upon lawful request and not designate the reports as confidential medical records.” Drs. Bernard and Rouse immediately filed a separate lawsuit to prevent release of the medical records.

Plaintiffs:

Voices for Life

Defendants:

Indiana Department of Health; Lindsay Weaver, M.D.

Co-counsel:

Kathrine D. Jack, Jack Law Office LLC

Timeline and Key Documents:

February 6, 2025

Court Grants Plaintiffs’ Motion to Dismiss Appeal

February 4, 2025

Plaintiff Files Motion to Dismiss Appeal Pursuant to Settlement Agreement

October 4, 2024