Indiana University will not be allowed to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that places new restrictions on abortion and prohibits the use or transfer of fetal tissue.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana on Tuesday denied IU’s motion to join, or intervene, in a lawsuit brought in April by Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in relation to House Enrolled Act 1337.
The court ruled that the original plaintiffs’ reasons for filing the lawsuit are different from IU’s, and it therefore will not allow IU to join the lawsuit. The court emphasized, however, that IU can file a separate case. According to a statement from IU spokeswoman Margie Smith-Simmons, IU intends to do so immediately.
The IU plaintiffs are listed as the IU Board of Trustees; Vice President for Research Fred Cate; Bruce Lamb, executive director of the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute in Indianapolis; and Debomoy Lahiri, professor of psychiatry, neurobiology and medical and molecular genetics. They take issue with the provision of the law that makes it a Level 5 felony — punishable by one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 — to intentionally acquire, receive, sell or transfer aborted fetal tissue, defined to include “tissue, organs or any other part of an aborted fetus.”
According to the IU plaintiffs’ complaint, IU and Lahiri are conducting Alzheimer’s disease and autism spectrum research using fetal tissue from the Birth Defects Research Laboratory at the University of Washington, which obtains the fetal tissue from both elective abortions and miscarriages. The Stark Neurosciences Research Institute also possesses “biologicals,” such as DNA, RNA and proteins, that could have been derived from fetal tissue. The IU plaintiffs are concerned that the sharing or transfer of those research materials could be criminalized under this law, which is set to take effect July 1.
“Our fear is a lot of researchers, particularly neuroscience researchers, bring cell cultures with them,” Cate said in a phone interview Monday. “Suddenly, they would be impacted by this law.”