A judge Tuesday denied Indiana University’s attempt to join a lawsuit by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood challenging Indiana’s new anti-abortion law.
The ACLU of Indiana, on behalf of Planned Parenthood, filed a lawsuit last month seeking to block a new state law that bars abortions performed solely because of a fetus’ potential disability, sex or race.
Indiana University says a different part of the law, one that bans receiving fetal tissue, will criminalize its research on Alzheimer’s disease.
IU sought to join Planned Parenthood’s legal challenge, something the Attorney General’s office objected to. And a judge sided with the state, denying IU’s request.
Judge Debra McVicker Lynch says IU’s request isn’t timely – some filing deadlines have already passed, and a hearing in the Planned Parenthood suit is scheduled for June 14th. Lynch also writes that the legal issues raised by IU are entirely different from those brought by the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. She notes IU can file its own case and seek to halt the law before it takes effect July 1st.