On March 3rd, amidst an ongoing legal battle surrounding the release of individual reports, the Indiana Department of Health released their quarterly aggregate report of submitted Termination of Pregnancy Reports (TPRs) for quarter four of 2024.
After Governor Mike Braun signed an executive order on January 21st to direct the Department of Health to release the individual reports, two abortionists, Caitlyn Bernard and Caroline Rouse, sued the Indiana State Health Commissioner and Voices for Life, a grassroots organization who had sued the Department of Health in May of 2024 to receive access to the reports, after they stopped releasing them individually and began releasing aggregate reports.
Quarter four of 2024 showed that the number of abortions is still dropping dramatically in the state, with 33 abortions taking place in Q4. A total of 146 babies were lost to abortion in Indiana in 2024. In comparison, 4,673 babies were lost to abortion in Indiana in 2023, showcasing how pro-life laws can save thousands of lives.
2024 Abortions in Indiana | |
|---|---|
Lethal Fetal Anomaly | 93 |
Serious health risk/life of the pregnant woman | 40 |
Rape/incest | 9 |
Unknown | 4 |
The Department of Health noted with the release of the Q4 data that Indiana University Health submitted 4 incomplete reports via email in late December- January. To keep the data integrity, the Department of Health added those four abortions to the total count for the quarter, but because they lacked significant details relevant to other data, they left those abortions out of the data they reported related to trends, demographics, and medical data.
The Department of Health has an electronic reporting system set up to receive TPRs, which must be submitted within 30 days of the abortion taking place or 3 days if the patient is a minor. The reports IU Health submitted confirmed that the four abortions took place in 2024; they did not include all of the data that is legally required to be submitted under Indiana Code § 16-34-2-5. According to the code, each failure to complete or submit a form in a timely manner is a Class B misdemeanor.
In both Q3 and Q4 of 2024, one baby was born alive during an abortion. There is no information about what medical care either baby may have received. If the public had access to the complete Termination of Pregnancy Reports, the name of the physician(s) performing the abortions that have led to these two born-alive babies would be released, along with the babies' gestational age. The report does show that the baby born alive in Q4 was over 20 weeks of gestational age.
20 Weeks Gestational Age
A separate report about abortion complications in Q4 was also released. 15 complication reports were submitted in Q4, 10 of which were complications from chemical abortions, while the other 5 were from surgical procedures. At least one complication report was submitted due to the patient ordering the abortion pill online and taking it at home, while 4 other reports did not disclose whether the patient had accessed the abortion pill through the mail. The complications report also includes abortions that may have taken place out of state, but the patient reported to an Indiana hospital with the complications, requiring doctors to submit a report to the Department of Health. The number one complication reported in all quarters of 2024 was “incomplete abortion.”
We mourn for the 146 little lives lost to abortion in Indiana last year that we know about, while simultaneously rejoicing that the overall number of abortions in the state has decreased so drastically since the Life Bill took effect. We pray for those who were affected by abortion in Indiana last year and those who may be affected or already have been affected this year. We will continue to fight the good fight to see abortion unthinkable in our nation and in our world, all with the help of our Heavenly Father, who makes all things good in His time.
