Whole Women’s Health Alliance v. Hill

In action by plaintiff-provider of medication abortions, alleging that various aspects of Indiana’s abortion regime violated 14^th Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses, under circumstances where defendants-state officials had failed to grant plaintiff’s application to operate abortion facility, Dist. Ct. erred in entering preliminary injunction to extent that said injunction would exempt plaintiff from defendant’s licensing requirements, since defendants may use licensing as legitimate means of vetting and monitoring abortion providers. However, issue remains as to whether defendants have used licensing requirements to improperly mask decision to deny all such licensing requests by making unreasonable requests for information. As such, Dist. Ct. could properly conclude that entry of preliminary injunction was necessary because defendants’ handling of plaintiff’s application was unsupported and outweighed by substantial burden state was imposing on women. Ct., however, modified injunction to direct defendants to treat plaintiff as if it had provisional license to operate abortion facility until Dist. Ct. issues final decision on plaintiff’s due process and equal protection claims.