Month: August 2022

Abortion-rights protesters fill Indiana Statehouse corridors and cheer outside legislative chambers, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, as lawmakers vote to concur on a near-total abortion ban, in Indianapolis.

Arleigh Rodgers/AP

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Arleigh Rodgers/AP

Abortion-rights protesters fill Indiana Statehouse corridors and cheer outside legislative chambers, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, as lawmakers vote to concur on a near-total abortion ban, in Indianapolis.

Arleigh Rodgers/AP

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana on Friday became the first state in the nation to approve abortion restrictions since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, as the Republican governor quickly signed a near-total ban on the procedure shortly after lawmakers approved it.

The ban, which takes effect Sept. 15, includes some exceptions. Abortions would be permitted in cases of rape and incest, before 10-weeks post-fertilization; to protect the life and physical health of the mother; and if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly. Victims of rape and incest would not be required to sign a notarized affidavit attesting to an attack, as had once been proposed.

Under the bill, abortions can be performed only in hospitals or outpatient centers owned by hospitals, meaning all abortion clinics would lose their licenses. A doctor who performs an illegal abortion or fails to file required reports must also lose their medical license — wording that tightens current Indiana law that says a doctor “may” lose their license.

“I am personally most proud of each Hoosier who came forward to courageously share their views in a debate that is unlikely to cease any time soon,” Gov. Eric Holcomb said in the statement announcing that he had signed the measure. “For my part as your governor, I will continue to keep an open ear.”

His approval came after the Senate approved the ban 28-19 and the House advanced it 62-38.

Indiana was among the earliest Republican-run state legislatures to debate tighter abortion laws after the Supreme Court ruling in June that removed constitutional protections for the procedure. But it is the first state to pass a ban through both chambers, after West Virginia lawmakers on July 29 passed up the chance to be that state.

“Happy to be completed with this, one of the more challenging things that we’ve ever done as a state General Assembly, at least certainly while I’ve been here,” Senate President Pro-Tem Rodric Bray told reporters after the vote. “I think this is a huge opportunity, and we’ll build on that as we go forward from here.”

Sen. Sue Glick of LaGrange, who sponsored the bill, said that she does not think “all states will come down at the same place” but that most Indiana residents support aspects of the bill.

Some senators in both parties lamented the bill’s provisions and the impact it would have on the state, including low-income women and the health care system. Eight Republicans joined all 11 Democrats in voting against the bill, though their reasons to wart the measure were mixed.

“We are backsliding on democracy,” said Democratic Sen. Jean Breaux of Indianapolis, who wore a green ribbon Friday signifying support for abortion rights, on her lapel. “What other freedoms, what other liberties are on the chopping block, waiting to be stripped away?”

Republican Sen. Mike Bohacek of Michiana Shores spoke about his 21-year-old-daughter, who has Down syndrome. Bohacek voted against the bill, saying it does not have adequate protections for women with disabilities who are raped.

“If she lost her favorite stuffed animal, she’d be inconsolable. Imagine making her carry a child to term,” he said before he started to choke up, then threw his notes on his seat and exited the chamber.

Republican Sen. Mike Young of Indianapolis, however, said the bill’s enforcement provisions against doctors are not stringent enough.

Such debates demonstrated Indiana residents’ own divisions on the issue, displayed in hours of testimony lawmakers heard over the past two weeks. Residents rarely, if ever, expressed support for the legislation in their testimony, as abortion-rights supporters said the bill goes too far while anti-abortion activists expressed it doesn’t go far enough.

The debates came amid an evolving landscape of abortion politics across the country as Republicans face some party divisions and Democrats see a possible election-year boost.

Republican Rep. Wendy McNamara of Evansville, who sponsored the House bill, told reporters after the House vote that the legislation “makes Indiana one of the most pro-life states in the nation.”

Outside the chambers, abortion-rights activists often chanted over lawmakers’ remarks, carrying signs like “Roe roe roe your vote” and “Build this wall” between church and state. Some House Democrats wore blazers over pink “Bans Off Our Bodies” T-shirts.

Indiana’s ban followed the political firestorm over a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to the state from neighboring Ohio to end her pregnancy. The case gained attention when an Indianapolis doctor said the child came to Indiana because of Ohio’s “fetal heartbeat” ban.

Religion was a persistent theme during legislative debates, both in residents’ testimony and lawmakers’ comments.

In advocating against the House bill, Rep. Ann Vermilion condemned fellow Republicans who have called women “murderers” for getting an abortion.

“I think that the Lord’s promise is for grace and kindness,” she said. “He would not be jumping to condemn these women.”

A woman accused of causing a crash that killed five people, including a pregnant woman, Thursday in Los Angeles County has been arrested, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The driver, Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, was hospitalized with moderate injuries and faces a charge of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, Highway Patrol said in statement

Linton is from Houston, but she worked locally as a nurse, authorities said.

The driver was behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz that was traveling at “a high rate of speed” when it went though a red light and smashed into cross traffic in the Windsor Hills community, southwest of downtown Los Angeles, on Thursday afternoon, the CHP said in a statement.

“As a result of this collision, multiple parties were ejected and two vehicles were fully engulfed in flames,” the CHP stated.

Five people were declared dead at the scene and eight were hospitalized with injuries ranging from minor to moderate, according to Highway Patrol.

The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office identified the pregnant victim as Asherey Ryan, 23. Her fetus did not survive the crash and her 11-month-old son was also killed. Her son’s identity was still pending, officials said.

NBC Los Angeles reported Ryan was headed with her son to an appointment with her prenatal doctor, who was to update her on her pregnancy, when her vehicle was struck.

Ryan and her fiancé were expecting a baby boy, who they planned to name Armani, her family told the station.

Ryan’s mother, Sharita Randleston, told the station she wants the suspect in the crash held accountable. “She needs to pay for her actions de ella,” she said.

Security video of the crash appears to show the dark Mercedes coupe traveling with no sign of deceleration southbound on La Brea Avenue, a wide street used as an alternative to often-packed Interstate 405, into bustling traffic on Slauson Avenue.

Officials said the collision was so powerful, with vehicles burned to the ground, they’re still having a hard time determining which victim was in which vehicle.

Two women and a man were killed, according to the coroner’s office, but additional identities have not been released.

Dennis Romero

Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

Andrew Blankstein and Eric Leonard contributed.

TAMPA — Ousted Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren is out of a job because of something he said, not something he did.

Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped a bombshell when he removed Warren from office this week for pledging not to pursue certain criminal cases involving abortion and transgender minors. As the conservative Republican governor and the progressive Democratic prosecutor brace for the inevitable battle to come, the Tampa Bay Times asked legal experts to weigh in.

DeSantis’ order on Thursday said a governor’s “executive responsibility” allows him to suspend any state officer who is not subject to impeachment for acts that include neglect of duty and incompetence. “Warren has effectively nullified these Florida criminal laws in the 13th Judicial Circuit, thereby eroding the rule of law, encouraging lawlessness, and usurping the exclusive role of the Florida Legislature to define criminal conduct,” his order said.

Some experts focused on a specific aspect of the executive order: Though it said Warren neglected his duty and was incompetent because he had signed letters saying he would not enforce laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors or limiting abortion, in fact, no such cases have come before him.

“We’ve had none. None of those cases have been brought to us, ”Warren said at a news conference hours after he was escorted from his downtown offices. “We don’t anticipate those cases being brought to us.”

The question, then: Can someone be removed from office for something that has not actually happened?

“There is no case I’m aware of where (Warren) declined to prosecute anybody,” said Clearwater First Amendment attorney Luke Lirot. “So at this point, it’s directly retaliatory for his political speech from him.”

“It just seems to me to be outrageous that the governor would take these steps to remove a properly elected official simply because they made statements that are inconsistent with the governor’s political viewpoints,” Lirot said.

Scott Stephens, a former Hillsborough circuit judge who is a professor of Florida Constitutional law at Stetson University, said Warren’s removal should be looked at next to the 2017 case of Aramis Ayala, who was then the state attorney in Orlando.

Ayala made headlines when she announced she would not seek the death penalty against Markeith Loyd, accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and a police officer and causing a massive manhunt, or in other murder cases.

In response, then-Gov. Rick Scott reassigned 29 cases from her office to another state attorney. But Scott did not attempt to suspend or remove Ayala from her elected position.

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“The important distinction in (the Warren) case is, it’s whether you do it, not whether you say it,” Stephens said. “The only action that’s occurred is speaking.”

Stephens also said that as a state attorney, Warren should not have made blanket statements about what he would or would not do.

“You have to make it on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “That’s the nature of why you are there.”

Joseph Cillo, a retired attorney and assistant professor of criminal justice at Saint Leo University, said he believes the governor was well within his rights — and even obliged — to remove the state attorney.

By publicly stating he wouldn’t prosecute certain acts deemed illegal in Florida, Warren created the potential for 14th Amendment issues of denying people equal protection under the law, Cillo said.

“Not prosecuting people for crimes they’ve committed because you don’t want to prosecute them, what is that saying to the general public?” he said. “There’s a crime. If we’re not going to prosecute, there’s no consequence for that wrong action, and it will be repeated.”

The president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Ernie Chang, said in a Friday statement that DeSantis had exceeded his authority. State attorneys have wide discretion in choosing what cases to prosecute, something that happens daily across the state, he said.

“Gov. DeSantis should allow elected prosecutors to do their jobs and should respect the will of voters regarding the state attorneys they elect,” Chang said.

Scott Tozian, a Tampa attorney who has represented judges, prosecutors and lawyers, said the fact that Warren had not actually decided the kind of cases pointed out by the governor will no doubt be a point of discussion as the matter proceeds.

“I do think it will be a legal issue,” he said.

Warren’s attorney, David Singer of the Shumaker firm in Tampa, said the governor “outlined a number of things in this order that the state attorney might do, that he presumed the state attorney could do. It’s based on letters Andrew has signed and not cases Andrew has seen.”

The main problem, Singer said, is “that none of the acts that the governor is describing have occurred.”

Singer planned to file what’s called a writ of who warranted motion — Latin for by what warrant or authority — as early as Friday challenging the governor’s power to do what he did.

Said Lirot: “The repercussions of this dispute are going to be far-reaching.”

Times staff writer Ian Hodgson contributed to this report.