State could run up more legal fees after losing abortion case

INDIANAPOLIS—Attorney General Curtis Hill said he expects to appeal the state’s latest loss after a federal court judge ruled that Indiana’s newest abortion law is unconstitutional.

Hill said Tuesday in a written statement that his office is reviewing the ruling issued late Friday by Senior U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker that blocked the abortion law passed in the 2019 legislative session.

The ruling is one in a string of losses in federal court for the attorney general’s office and it could lead to the state paying out more money in legal fees to the ACLU of Indiana, which represented the plaintiffs. The state’s Legislative Services Agency has noted in the past that the state has paid out about $290,000 in legal fees to plaintiffs and their lawyers.

In April 2019, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1211 into law that would ban a certain type of second trimester abortion called D&E—dilation and evacuation. D&E is the most common second trimester abortion method.

Read more: http://thestatehousefile.com/state-run-legal-fees-losing-abortion-case/39319/