New Indiana laws go into effect on Friday

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Several new Indiana laws are set to go into effect this Friday.

One is Indiana House Bill 1041, which stops transgender girls from playing high school sports on girl's teams.

There has been a lot of push back by Indiana groups and Governor Holcomb himself.

The IHSAA currently has rules in place saying that a Transgender person has to be transitioned and had done hormone therapy for at least a year before being able to compete.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita says the IHSAA has no metrics or standards by which it compares an applicant’s physical and physiological condition of a genetic female.

There has been a lawsuit filed against the state of Indiana to combat the bill taking effect on Friday.

With this new bill, transgender athletes would be prohibited from competing in high school sports.

The bill says based on the gender given at birth would be the gender they compete in.

Another law going into effect is an anti-coercion law aimed at women coerced into getting an abortion.

This law aims to stop women from being coerced into an abortion, something that's already a level six felony in Indiana.

The law says that even if someone is suspected to be coerced into the abortion, medical professionals must immediately investigate

Planned Parenthood believes this law is “redundant and unnecessary” and could impact access to abortion care.

Under Indiana’s intimidation statute, if coercion is suspected the abortion must be delayed twenty-four hours to investigate.

Opponents of the bill say healthcare workers are already trained to address domestic issues.

Supporters of it say that it is not about restricting abortion but protecting women from coercion.