Voices for Life v. Indiana Department of Health (Indiana)
(Case No. 49D02-2405-MI-019876 (Superior Court, Marion County))
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, including the patient’s age; county and state of residence; marital status; race; and ethnicity, as well as 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—Dr. Caitlin Bernard and Dr. 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 has thus far declined demands to release the TPRs, the Indiana Attorney General has called for their release, launching a political pressure campaign against the Health Department.
Notably, in 2023, at the Attorney General’s urging, the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana disciplined Dr. Bernard for disclosing that she provided abortion care to a 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.
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:
June 13, 2024
June 11, 2024
May 1, 2024
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