Clinton challenges Indiana abortion law at campaign stop

May 1, 2016 at 5:25 p.m. EDT

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton meets voters at Lincoln Square Pancake House in Indianapolis on May 1. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

INDIANAPOLIS — Just hours after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against a new Indiana abortion law, Hillary Clinton stumped miles away from the state capitol and filed a sort of amicus brief.

“I will defend a woman's right to make her own health-care decisions,” Clinton said to a few hundred supporters packed into a sweltering recreation center. “I’ll tell ya, I’ll defend Planned Parenthood against these attacks. And I commend the women of this state, young and old, for standing up against this governor and this legislature.”

She did not mention the details of the legislation, House Bill 1337, which bans abortions for several factors not deemed life-threatening. As enacted, the bill prohibits termination of pregnancy if the woman asking for it is motivated by the “race, color, national origin, ancestry, or sex of the fetus” or “diagnosis or potential diagnosis of the fetus having Down syndrome or any other disability.”