Indiana’s top court weighing challenge to state abortion ban

By TOM DAVIES
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A top state lawyer has urged the Indiana Supreme Court to uphold the state’s Republican-backed abortion ban. The justices heard arguments Thursday even as they weighed whether they should decide the constitutionality of the ban before lower courts have fully considered the case. The lawsuit against the ban was filed by abortion clinic operators. Enforcement of the ban has been blocked since September when a county judge found it likely violated privacy protections under the state constitution. The arguments in Indiana come after the top courts in two other conservative states went in opposite directions on similar state constitutional challenges to their abortion bans. South Carolina’s ban was struck down and Idaho’s was upheld.