The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a lower court's decision invalidating part of Indiana's abortion law on the disposal of fetal remains, allowing it to go into effect.
But the court declined to take up a challenge to a provision blocking abortions on the basis of sex, race or disability, avoiding a major ruling on abortion for the time being.
The fetal remains law — signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence (R) — required that the remains from abortions or miscarriages be buried or cremated. The court reversed a ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that found the law unconstitutional.
"We reiterate that, in challenging this provision, respondents have never argued that Indiana's law imposes an undue burden on a woman's right to obtain an abortion," the court's order reads.
The court's order also means that the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked the second Indiana abortion law stands. That law stopped abortions on the basis of the fetuses' sex, gender or disability. The court stated that it will let lower courts continue to weigh in on that provision.
