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  • 2016-10-06 (xsd:date)
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  • Mike Pence Signed Law Forcing Women to Pay for Fetus 'Funerals'? (en)
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  • As the 2016 presidential elections continued to heat up, the vice presidential candidates began to weigh in their own particular interests and issues. Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence spotlighted his views on abortion as part of his platform: The Indiana governor reiterated his stance during a 4 October 2016 debate with his Democratic Party counterpart, Tim Kaine: Following the debate, Pence's critics focused on his support for a measure he signed into law on 24 March 2016, which purportedly made women liable for the cost of funerals for fetuses they had aborted or miscarried. The accusation quickly became a meme, and permeated reporting about the issue: The law, which was passed by the Republican-heavy state legislature, does require that aborted or miscarried fetuses be buried or cremated. It also requires that women involved in these cases be given the chance to decide how this is carried out. However, it did not require the women involved to be present during — or to pay for — the disposal of the material. Instead, that fell to the facility in which the miscarriage or abortion took place: There is a section, however, covering instances in which the parent or parents handle the cost: The measure also bans women from donating the material toward medical research. In this respect it is similar to legislature in other states: Pence said when he signed HEA 1337 into law that it would ensure the dignified final treatment of the unborn. However, it was quickly challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood of Indiana. On 30 June 2016, U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt suspended the law a day before it was slated to take effect. Pratt's ruling means that, despite the efforts of Pence and state Republicans, Indiana women will not be asked whether to they wish to bury or cremate (rather than donate) their miscarried or aborted fetuses. Even so, had the law not been suspended, parents would not have been forced to hold funerals for abortions or miscarriages — much less at their own expense. (en)
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