Party line divide: Local candidates for state offices reveal views on abortion

The candidates on the ballot this November to represent portions of Bartholomew County in the Indiana General Assembly are divided along party lines over what the state legislature should do if the U.S. Supreme Court were to roll back limits states have to restrict abortions.

The Republican incumbents, Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus and Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, who both are up for re-election this November and represent large portions of the county, say they are against abortion and have urged the governor to call a special session to take up the matter should the nation’s high court overturn parts of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide.

Attorney Ross Thomas, a Democrat challenging Lauer, and local teacher Bryan Munoz, who is challenging Walker, have said enacting restrictions to abortion services are a violation of women’s privacy, would strip away women’s autonomy and put their health decisions in the hands of legislators.

Abortion, which has been a contentious political issue for decades, was thrust back into the spotlight earlier this month after the leak of a draft opinion that suggests that the Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade.

While the court’s opinion often changes during the drafting process, the draft opinion first published by Politico in effect states there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to more heavily regulate or outright ban the procedure, The Associated Press reported.

But a decision to overturn parts of Roe v. Wade, which experts anticipate could come as early as this summer, could prompt the Republican-dominated General Assembly to significantly roll back access to abortion in Indiana.

Anticipating the decision, the vast majority of Republican state legislators — including Lauer and Walker — signed a letter in March asking the governor to call a taxpayer-funded special legislative session to take up the matter should the Supreme Court overturn portions of Roe v. Wade.

What the candidates say

Lauer, who is seeking a third term representing House District 59, which includes the city of Columbus and most of the western half of Bartholomew County, said he is “hopeful and praying” that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, stating that he believes abortion amounts to “the taking of a life.”

“I am looking forward to working with the General Assembly and hopefully coming up with legislation that moves in the direction of protecting the unborn, Lauer said. He said he would need to see the high court’s final decision “to understand the parameters of where we go.”

“…My hope is that we will go as far as we can to protect the innocent and the unborn,” Lauer said.

He added that he hoped “we would move past the practice of abortion as a people, as a community, as a society,” saying that his views on abortion are rooted in his personal religious beliefs.

Thomas, who is challenging Lauer in the November general election, said rolling back access to abortion services in Indiana would violate women’s right to privacy and would have devastating effects in Bartholomew County and rest of the state.

“I would absolutely do everything I could to stand in the way of passing a law or laws that put women’s health decisions in the hands of legislators and take it out of the hands of those women and their doctors,” Thomas said. “I am absolutely opposed to the government deciding who is going to have a baby. I don’t think that’s the government’s role. …If we pass a law that says if you become pregnant, you are forced to bring that pregnancy to term, it’s going to take autonomy away from women that they have every right to have. It’s certainly not going to end abortions.”

“These things have real-life consequences in people’s lives,” Thomas said. “…This is very real now.”

Walker, who is seeking re-election in state Senate District 41, which includes much of the city of Columbus and northern Bartholomew County, said he is “pro-life” and that he has long disagreed with the Roe v. Wade decision, pointing to other laws that he says bar personal choices.

“I think there are a lot of federal laws that one might argue are all about personal autonomy, such as illicit drug use or, I mean, you can make a laundry list of things that are a personal decision that may or may not impact others, that there’s no legal precedent that says that you get to control your own body,” Walker said. “…I still don’t believe in personal autonomy when actions affect the life of another.”

Munoz, who is challenging Walker in the general election, said, if elected, he would “continue to fight for women’s right to decide what is best for their body,” characterizing legislation that severely restricts or bans abortion services as a violation of “the right to privacy between a doctor and a patient.”

“If (a woman) has to have an abortion, she is probably at one of the lowest points of her life,” Munoz said. “These aren’t decisions that are just made on a whim. These aren’t quickly made decisions. These are deep, thoughtful decisions that are painstaking for this woman. …First and foremost, it’s not our business. Right to privacy between a doctor and a patient should be honored and respected in the state. The state shouldn’t be legislating that.”

Election ramifications

A Supreme Court decision to overrule Roe v. Wade could lead to abortion bans in roughly half of the states and have ramifications for this year’s elections.

Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned, including Indiana, according to the pro-abortion rights think tank the Guttmacher Institute.

This year, eight conservative states have already moved to restrict abortion rights. Oklahoma, for example, passed several bills in recent weeks, including one that goes into effect this summer making it a felony to perform an abortion. Like many anti-abortion bills passed in GOP-led states this year, it does not have exceptions for rape or incest, only to save the life of the mother.

Eight Democratic-leaning states protected or expanded access to the procedure, including California, which has passed legislation making the procedure less expensive and is considering other bills to make itself an “abortion sanctuary” if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

On the federal level, abortion debates in recent have come to a political draw in Congress. Bills would come up for votes — to expand or limit services — only to fail along party lines or be stripped out of broader legislative packages, according to wire reports.

This past Wednesday, the U.S. Senate fell far short in a rushed effort toward enshrining Roe v. Wade abortion access as federal law, blocked by a Republican filibuster in a blunt display of the nation’s partisan divide over the landmark court decision and the limits of legislative action.

Indiana’s senators, Todd Young and Mike Braun, both Republicans, sided with their GOP colleagues.

The almost party-line tally promises to be just the first of several efforts in Congress in the coming months to preserve the nearly 50-year-old court ruling, according to wire reports.

Exceptions?

When asked, Lauer wouldn’t directly say whether he would support allowing exceptions to abortion restrictions in cases of rape or incest.

“Exceptions will be debated,” Lauer said. “It depends on the decision of the Supreme Court before we can get into the details and the parameters of where our state is going to end up. The vast majority today of abortions are not in those circumstances. …I think it’s important to have a voice for these children just waiting to be born, who have rights.”

Walker said he would be supportive of exceptions in cases of rape, sexual assault, incest or if the life of the mother is at risk.

Walker further stated that “compromise” on potential abortion restrictions would be “prudent” given that there would likely be a patchwork of laws that differ by state, with some Democratic-leaning states, including neighboring Illinois, unlikely to roll back access to abortion.

“The practical necessity is to recognize that compromise — maybe not my personal choice — is the best policy for the state given we won’t regulate the entire nation from Indianapolis,” Walker said.

Lauer said he believes that the other states, including Illinois, should have the ability to make their own decisions on this issue.

Thomas said it would be “crazy” to prevent women and girls from getting abortions in cases of rape and incest, and that “most people, even people that have their own personal questions about abortion,” would be against mandating that “a 12-year-old girl who was raped by her father has to have that baby.”

Munoz said outright banning abortions in Indiana would not likely reduce abortions but rather increase the number of girls and women who resort to unsafe procedures.

“The results of (further restrictions) would not be a decrease in the number of abortions, but rather increase the deaths of young and poor women who will try to have these abortions nonetheless, who will have to go through dangerous measures and not safe medical procedures as they might be able to now,” Munoz said.

But as elected officials await the final decision from the Supreme Court, both parties face enormous pressure to convince voters they are doing all they can — the Democrats working to preserve abortion access, the Republicans to limit or end it — with the fall elections coming up.

“(Abortion) has been before the American public for 60 years, and we still don’t have a solid answer,” Walker said. “…Do we think that anything that the courts do or Indiana does at this point will satisfy or settle the matter in the eyes of the public?”

“I don’t believe this state or the federal system — either one — will ever settle a matter like that,” Walker added.