Free Republic

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked portions of a new Indiana law that would make it tougher for girls under age 18 to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge. U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker wrote in approving a temporary injunction that “when it comes to our children, while parents or others entrusted with their care and wellbeing have the lawful and moral obligation always to act in their best interests, children are not bereft of separate identities, interests, and legal standing.” Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana sued the state...

A federal judge in Indianapolis on Friday blocked part of an Indiana law that cut off public funding for the state’s Planned Parenthood outlets because they provide abortions, the Associated Press reported. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, who was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama, granted the family planning organization an injunction that voids the portion of the Indiana law, recently signed by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The Indiana law, which accounted for about $1.4 million and was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, would have been the first to deny Medicaid funds to...