Indiana abortion clinics reopening after judge puts temporary hold on ban

Indiana abortion clinic reportedly started Friday to resume the procedure, about 24 hours after a judge blocked the state's recently imposed ban. 

"People are getting the word that abortion is now legal again, and people are ready," Dr. Katie McHugh, an abortion provider at Women's Med in Indianapolis, told the Associated Press.

Women's Med is expecting to see patients again starting Friday, McHugh also said.

Indiana's seven abortion clinics were to lose their state licenses under the ban, which permits abortions with few exceptions and requires them to be performed in hospitals or outpatient surgical centers.

On Thursday, county Judge Kelsey Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, putting the new law on hold as abortion clinic operators argue in court that it violates the state constitution, the wire service also reports.

Hanlon wrote there is "reasonable likelihood that this significant restriction of personal autonomy offends the liberty guarantees of the Indiana Constitution" and that the clinics will prevail in the lawsuit. 

The ban was drafted and approved last month by the state's GOP-led Legislature, then signed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb. The effort made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court in June ended federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade.

The Indiana ban replaced state laws that essential prohibited abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and tightly restricted them after the 13th week, also according to the Associated Press. 

The ban allows for exceptions in such cases as rape and incest, to protect the life and physical health of the mother and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly.