Democratic gubernatorial candidate would use executive orders to promote abortion rights

On Thursday, Democrat Jennifer McCormick released her gubernatorial plan to promote abortion rights within the state’s near-total abortion ban, detailing the executive actions she’d take if elected to bypass a Republican-led General Assembly.

“I’ve traveled 92 counties, listened to a lot of Hoosiers, and by far one of the biggest issues that we’re hearing about is reproductive rights and freedoms,” McCormick said in a virtual press conference. “I’ve made it clear … that I trust women; I trust our health care providers. And when you do that, you allow them the autonomy to make decisions that they need to make.”

She pointed to Hoosier support for abortion access. Ball State University reported earlier this year in its annual survey that nearly 60% of Hoosiers believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. 

Given the makeup of both the House and Senate chambers, which Republicans have led for over a decade, McCormick outlined executive actions she would take to work within the state’s near-total abortion ban.

The Democrat said she would refocus on compliance assistance, rather than enforcement, while appointing abortion rights supporters to state boards and commissions — specifically the Indiana Medical Licensing Board and potentially the Indiana Supreme Court. 

She also waded into an ongoing legal battle between the health department and a South Bend-based anti-abortion group over the release of terminated pregnancy reports. McCormick said she’d protect the privacy of those records from “prying government officials,” likely a reference to Attorney General Todd Rokita, who has sided with the South Bend organization.  

The governor’s office would be used “as a platform to defend abortion rights” and the state budget would get a line item for “reproductive health funding.”

Such moves wouldn’t reverse the state’s near-total ban, but would “move the needle and put pressure on our General Assembly,” McCormick said. 

“You have to follow the law; that’s not an option,” she said. “… but there is a lot of space on educating people, making sure that they have the resources where they need to go (and) making sure we’re having a targeted effort to keep clinics open.”

The abortion ban stripped clinics of their licenses and now only hospitals may provide abortion services. 

Finally, McCormick called for a legislative change to allow a citizen-led ballot initiative so that Hoosiers could vote on abortion directly. 

Republican Mike Braun recently said in a debate that the state’s abortion ban — which includes exemptions for rape, fatal fetal abnormalities and the mother’s life — “seem(ed) to be working for Hoosiers.”

Braun’s running mate, Micah Beckwith, has criticized the exemptions, describing it as “not totally an abortion ban” and called for more legal penalties for abortion providers.

The third-party candidate, Libertarian Donald Rainwater, describes himself as a “pro-life Libertarian.” Election Day is Nov. 5.

This story was originally published by the Indiana Capital Chronicle