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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a second lawsuit challenging Indiana's law requiring medical facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains.
Lauren Chapman/IPB NewsThe six-year-long legal battle over an Indiana law dealing with fetal remains finally appears to be at an end.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a case over the constitutionality of the 2016 law.
The law, HEA 1337-2016, requires medical facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains, rather than dispose of them as medical waste. A 2016 lawsuit argued that it created an unconstitutional burden on abortion, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the provision in 2019.
A year later, a group of anonymous Hoosier women challenged the law from a different angle. They argued that treating fetal remains like a person (by requiring burial or cremation) went against their beliefs, violating the First Amendment.
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A district judge initially agreed – but a federal appeals court ruled against that challenge, saying the U.S. Supreme Court had already okayed the law.
Monday, the Supreme Court refused to take an appeal in the case, ending the lawsuit and ensuring the burial or cremation requirement is in effect.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
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