Planned Parenthood representatives confirmed that the health center at 8645 Connecticut Street Merrillville remains open for contraceptive services, gender confirmation care, sexually transmitted disease screening and treatment, and other health care needs.

“Planned Parenthood remains committed to Indiana. We are not going anywhere,” said Katie Rodihan, Director of Communications for Planned Parenthood.

Senate Register Act No. 1, which went into effect Thursday, allows pregnancies caused by rape or incest within 10 weeks of conception, or within 20 weeks of conception, except where necessary to prevent serious disability or death. Since the moment Indiana has banned all abortions. Pregnant women, or for fatal fetal abnormalities.

The law, which was approved by the Republican-controlled Congress and Republican Gov. Eric Holcombe on Aug. 5, requires all abortions to be completed in hospitals or hospital-owned surgical centers, allowing them to be performed at Planned Parenthood clinics. close abortion services and deploy doctors. If you cannot adequately justify the legal basis for abortion, you risk losing your medical license.

According to the Indiana Department of Health, a total of 1,145 abortions last year, or 13.6% statewide, were performed at planned parenthood facilities in Merrillville.

A lawsuit filed by the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers challenging the constitutional legitimacy of abortion restrictions will be heard Monday in Bloomington. It’s a schedule.

Another lawsuit, which claims that a near-total abortion ban violates Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is due to be reviewed by an Indianapolis court next month.

In the meantime, Hoosier women can access abortion care through Planned Parenthood located across the state line on 19831 Governors Highway. in Flossmore, Illinois.

The record shows that Indiana revoked the abortion right established by the Superior Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling following the June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was the first state to legally impose new abortion restrictions.