Seventh Circuit rules Indiana ban on abortion info for minors unconstitutional

On Tuesday, a Seventh Circuit panel declared Indiana's "aid-or-assist" law, which bars physicians from providing abortion-related information to unemancipated minors without parental consent or a court order, to be unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Judge David Hamilton wrote that the statute is not viewpoint-neutral, permitting information about prenatal care while prohibiting abortion referrals, thereby favoring one perspective.

Planned Parenthood, which challenged the law after its 2017 enactment, argued that the restriction constitutes content- and viewpoint-based discrimination, a claim the court accepted. The opinion also clarified that speech facilitating an illegal abortion in Indiana remains prohibited. The ruling follows a Ninth Circuit decision that struck down a comparable Idaho provision.

Judges Michael Scudder and Ilana Rovner joined the opinion, with Scudder dissenting that the state’s interest in parental involvement was undervalued. Neither Planned Parenthood nor Indiana officials responded to comment requests.