Mitch Daniels to Sign Abortion Bill

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, a possible GOP presidential candidate, announced on Friday that he will sign a bill restricting taxpayer funding for abortions in his state. The bill, HEA 1210, will prevent the state from making contracts with abortion providers, except for hospitals and ambulatory centers. Planned Parenthood has 28 clinics in Indiana; eight of them are Title X-funded clinics. The announcement has already drawn a negative response from abortion rights groups. This is a different stance from last year, when Daniels angered conservatives by suggesting a “truce” on social issues. In the announcement, Daniels said that affected organizations can immediately resume receiving taxpayer dollars by “ceasing or separating its operations that perform abortions.”