HB 1596: Protection of Life

This bill says that life begins at conception and that fetuses have equal rights to the pregnant person carrying them. It also asserts that the state has an interest in protecting the fetus from the moment of conception onward, and treats the fetus as a person. This means that if the fetus is “not protected” at the same level as the pregnant person, the physician could be charged with crimes including homicide, malpractice, and/or wrongful death. This builds on the already horrendous ban on abortion Indiana legislators passed in 2022, putting more women’s lives at risk and criminalizing doctors for providing reproductive health care.