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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — South Bend based Pro-life organization, Voices for Life, filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Department of Health (IDoH) demanding the release of previously available abortion records. The lawsuit, filed in Marion County yesterday, comes after the Department of Health refused to release what are known as Terminated Pregnancy Reports (TPRs). The release of TPRs as a public record has been standard practice for more than 50 years. Voices for Life and other pro-life organizations rely on TPRs for their work as public watchdogs of the abortion industry in the state.
ATTORNEY GENERAL CALLS OUT COLLUSION OF BUREAUCRATS
Attorney General Todd Rokita seemed to allude to such a lawsuit last month after his office released an Advisory Opinion, advising the IDoH to reverse course and start releasing TPRs as it has historically done.
“If you get refused these documents, you have a right to sue the State of Indiana.” Rokita stated during a press conference.
Rokita has been very vocal in his opposition to the decision of the IDoH not to release TPRs, stating without their disclosure, it is impossible to enforce Indiana’s near total abortion ban. At his press conference last month he did not mince his words when calling out bureaucratic attempts to hinder Indiana’s pro-life law.
“There was collusion between the Department of Health and the Public Access Counselor (the agency responsible for interpreting Indiana’s public records laws) to come up with this scheme to make sure that Indiana’s pro-life law can’t be enforced going forward.” AG Rokita said during his news conference in Fort Wayne.
UNELECTED BUREAUCRATS UPEND 50 YEARS OF LAW
To understand what the DoH and PAC did, you need a quick civics and history lesson on Indiana’s pro-life laws. Since 1973, Indiana has had a law mandating medical providers fill out what is known as a Terminated Pregnancy Report after an abortion is performed. That report, which contains no identifiable information, is submitted to the Indiana Department of Health. And, for 50-years, that report would be available to the public.
However, following Indiana’s new pro-life law, the Department of Health decided it would no longer allow those reports to be made publicly available. Then, in December, Indiana’s Public Access Counselor issued an opinion agreeing with the IDoH by claiming TPR’s are now to be considered “medical records” which are exempt from disclosure — meaning, two departments of unelected bureaucrats simply decided to ignore Indiana’s law that had been enforced and on the books for more than 50 years. Remember, while most abortions are now illegal, some still occur with the exceptions listed in Indiana’s statute.
A recent 11-page opinion by Attorney General Rokita rebukes the new IDoH and PAC policy.
“These are not medical records because of the purpose in statute for them. They are not needed to be medical records. And, because there’s not identifiable patient information on here, there’s no reason to consider them to be medical records.” Rokita said during his Friday press conference in Fort Wayne. “The Terminated Pregnancy Reports, TPRs, are in fact still public record despite an erroneous decision by Luke Britt, the Public Access Counselor, appointed by Governor Holcomb and an erroneous practice now being employed by the leaders at the Department of Health, also appointees of Governor Holcomb.”
TPRs ENSURE NO ILLEGAL ABORTIONS OCCUR
The reason for TPRs is to ensure all abortion laws within the state are followed. The reports give general information about the pregnancy, reason for the abortion, the age of the unborn child, in what facility the abortion occurred, the name of the doctor who performed the abortion, etc. Once again, no information that identifies the patient is included. If abortion laws are ignored, the TPRs are used as evidence and the main source of information for the person filing a complaint.
“Our enforcement statutes are complaint driven. Meaning, we have to get a complaint from the public in order to start an investigation… My office can’t even file a complaint. We are prohibited by statute, any member of my staff, is prohibited by statute in filing a complaint in a matter.” Rokita explained on Friday. “In really every sense, we have to rely on the public. The public has to rely on evidence. The evidence comes from what has always been these publicly available TPRs. Until just recently, that’s not been a problem.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The new advisory opinion issued by the Attorney General is a strategic legal step. It gives the DoH and PAC a stern warning that they should change course. It also lets the public know they have legal rights to receive TPRs as public records.
“We (hope this advisory opinion) can convince the DoH and PAC, groups of people who are unelected, to change course. We hope this opinion gives them the realization that they should change course and (gives them) the legal ammunition that they need to change course.” Rokita added.
LOST OPPORTUNITY
While Rokita argues the ruling by Britt regarding the public availability of the TPRs was flawed, he states the legislature COULD have taken action to correct it. However, session has ended and the requests made by the Attorney General were simply ignored.
In a February 13th letter to State Senator Liz Brown and Representative Chris Jeter, Rokita wrote, “with the legislature currently in session, you can make clear that these reports are not medical records and must be released. Although IDOH (Indiana Department of Health) can make proper redactions under current law to protect patient privacy expressly codifying what information must be made public will stop foreseeable future delays from IDOH around this point… Alternatively, you can remove the current requirement that investigations by my office be based solely on third party complaints (since the public now has no information upon which to base a complaint) and remove the limitation of IDOH as the sole investigator of hospitals by authorizing my office to perform such duties as well.”
Once again, Rokita’s requests were ignored. The 2024 legislative session ended on March 14th. Indiana’s abortion laws are still virtually unenforceable.
You can read Rokita’s letters to Governor Holcomb, Senate President Rodric Bray, House Speaker Todd Huston, State Senator Liz Brown and Representative Chris Jeter below.
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