The federal lawsuit comes after the Indiana State Department of Health denied the Alliances original application.

Pharmacists could deny women access to abortion-inducing drugs if they have a moral or ethical objection under a bill approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.

Dilation and evacuation abortion procedures, or D&Es, are performed in the second trimester. And they're currently legal up to around 20 weeks. Proposed legislation would ban them unless there are serious health risks to the mother.

Texas-based Whole Woman's Health Alliance reapplied for the license Thursday, avoiding what it feared would be a lengthy legal battle.

The 2-1 ruling was made last month by an Indiana Department of Health administrative panel, but the panel didn't immediately explain the rejection.

A South Bend abortion clinic is still barred from opening after an Indiana State Department of Health panel reversed an administrative judge's earlier ruling.

Whole Woman's Health Alliance applied more than a year ago to open an abortion clinic in South Bend.

An Indianapolis judge ruled Whole Woman's Health Alliance had provided all the necessary information, and that the health department hadn't provided a legitimate reason for the denial.

The judge will determine whether to grant Whole Woman's Health Alliance's appeal after the Indiana State Department of Health denied the group's application for an abortion clinic license in January.

National anti-abortion group the Susan B. Anthony List has started a door-to-door campaign in Indiana in an effort to convince U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) to vote for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.