INDIANAPOLIS—On Tuesday, Senate Bill 1 passed out of the Senate Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee with a vote of 7-5. The unpopular proposal was opposed by every Hoosier who signed up to testify at the Statehouse over the last two days. Senate Democratic Leader Greg Taylor (D-Indianapolis) released the following statement:

“It’s absolutely shameful that this proposal, which was overwhelmingly opposed by the Indiana residents who testified, advanced out of committee. There is no clearer indication than that to show that this supermajority does not care about the will of Hoosiers

“My caucus offered amendments to make this bill better—not redeemable but somewhat better for Hoosier women. The amendments that were allowed to be heard were not supported. I say allowed, because eleven of our amendments were not even permitted to be called. Science and the expert opinions of healthcare professionals, who helped advise our amendments, were shut down today.

“Instead, a bad bill was made even worse by Republican amendments. Under their changes, rape and incest exceptions are limited at 8 weeks over the age of16—before a woman may even be aware that she’s pregnant. This amendment is needlessly cruel and excessively uncompassionate, and I’m disgusted that it was even introduced let alone passed. I hope the rest of my Republican colleagues are more receptive to Hoosier voices and to the voices of doctors and kill this bill before doing irreversible damage to our state.”