INDIANAPOLIS — A federal appeals court has reinstated an Indiana law adopted in 2016 that requires abortion clinics to either bury or cremate fetal remains.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling released Monday overturns an Indiana judge’s decision in September that the law infringed upon the religious and free speech rights of people who do not believe aborted fetuses deserve the same treatment as deceased people.

The appeals court cited a 2019 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the fetal remains provisions of the law signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence and that the state had a legitimate interest in how those remains are disposed.

“Indiana does not require any woman who has obtained an abortion to violate any belief, religious or secular,” the appeals court ruling said. “The cremate-or-bury directive applies only to hospitals and clinics.”