IU goes to court to oppose new state fetal tissue law

IU has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana challenging provisions of House Enrolled Act 1337, which the university argues could potentially subject its researchers to criminal prosecution simply by complying with conditions of research grants. The law also potentially delays research that could lead to "breakthroughs in treatments and cures" for people with a variety of neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease and autism spectrum disorders, according to documents filed with the court.

The university filed a motion last Monday with the district court to intervene, or join, a lawsuit brought in April by Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Inc. and the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana that challenges the constitutionality of the new law. Among other provisions, the bill passed this year by the Indiana General Assembly bans abortions sought solely because of genetic abnormalities and mandates than an aborted fetus be buried or cremated.

Then, on Friday, IU's lawyers filed a motion asking the court to bar the state from enforcing the new law until a court rules on the merits of its claims, which concern provisions not addressed in the Planned Parenthood lawsuit.

Specifically, the university is challenging what it termed "unconstitutionally vague" language it fears could stop research being conducted at IU's Stark Neurosciences Research Institute in Indianapolis and by the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center, also in Indianapolis, which is one of 30 such centers in the nation funded by the National Institutes of Health.