Indiana’s government agencies will work together to ensure the state’s pro-life law is “swiftly” enforced, Governor Mike Braun announced recently.

The state released a 10-page report on July 1 which details how it will enforce laws against abortion. The report follows an executive order by the Republican governor which asked state agencies to ensure they were enforcing the law.

Currently, about 98% of abortions in the state are banned, with some exceptions for rape, incest, “lethal fetal anomalies,” and “situations where the pregnancy posed a risk to the mother’s life or serious health.” Individual abortion clinics, such as Planned Parenthood, are prohibited from killing babies.

Still, challenges remain.

Under Braun, the state said it would release individual “terminated pregnancy reports,” a practice opposed by the previous administration. However, those efforts are currently paused due to a pending lawsuit.

However, enforcement will continue. “In response to identified compliance challenges, [Indiana Department of Health] has begun to promulgate new rules enabling the agency to issue fines against hospitals and [ambulatory surgical centers] that fail to meet abortion-related legal requirements,” the report stated. “This regulatory tool adds a layer of enforcement that does not rely solely on licensure action or criminal referral, allowing IDOH to address non compliance swiftly and proportionately.”

The Department of Health and the attorney general’s office are also working together “to ensure that legal referrals are handled efficiently.”

Part of this collaboration includes working with two hospital systems that refuse to provide abortion data, Indiana University Health and Eskenazi. “IU Health and Eskenazi based their refusal on the recently vacated Biden-era Reproductive Health Rule. IDOH is in consultation with OAG, IU Health, and Eskenazi regarding how to proceed in light of the court order vacating this Biden-era regulation,” the report states.

The governor pledged to uphold the will of the state when it comes to protecting preborn babies. “Indiana is a state that supports Life, and the people’s representatives have enshrined those protections for the unborn into state law,” Braun stated in the opening of the report.

While Indiana is doing a good job in protecting most babies, more work can be done. While rape and incest are tragic, the solution is not to punish the baby but the rapist. After all, every human life is deserving of protection no matter how it was conceived. Indiana’s reputation as a pro-life state will only improve when it protects every baby, no matter the circumstances of birth or medical issues, from the horrors of abortion.