Judge: $180,000 legal bill due after abortion law challenged

Posted: Mar 3, 2020 / 11:18 AM EST / Updated: Mar 3, 2020 / 11:18 AM EST

This May 15, 2019 photo shows a sign in front of the Planned Parenthood offices in Richmond, Va. Fetal heartbeat and other strict state abortion laws pushed by anti-abortion groups have grabbed headlines and captured the nation’s attention. But pro-abortion rights groups have been waging a quieter battle in courthouses around the country, where they have put on their own push to overturn state restrictions on abortion providers. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

INDIANAPOLIS (The Times) — A federal judge ordered the attorney general’s office to pay the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana a total of $182,499 on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky for successfully challenging the 2016 genetic abnormality abortion law enacted by now-Vice President Mike Pence.

The law would have banned abortions sought because of a fetus’ genetic abnormalities, genetic diseases or physical deformities.

The Northwest Times reported Indiana has paid more than $3 million to the ACLU between 2011 and 2020 following the group’s successful challenges to unconstitutional state laws.