By Catholic News Service • Posted April 1, 2016

INDIANAPOLIS (CNS) — A new Indiana law that protects unborn children by banning abortions based on potential disabilities, gender and race “reflects the love that God has for everyone by affirming that every human life is sacred,” Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin said.

“This is a decisive step in promoting life, not death, for unborn human life. No baby should lose its life because of a potential disability or its gender or race. Every human life matters,” he said.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the measure into law March 24. It passed both chambers of the Republican-controlled General Assembly with large majorities.

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Father Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, praised Pence as “a strong defender of the most vulnerable among us — the unborn.”

“He, and the Indiana Legislature, have honored justice and served the public by establishing these protections,” the priest said.

In Utah March 28, Gov. Gary Herbert signed a bill into law that requires anesthesia for the fetus in a narrow range of abortions. The bill was highly contested by medical professionals but passed easily through both houses of the state Legislature.

“The governor is adamantly pro-life,” said a statement from Herbert’s office. “He believes in not only erring on the side of life, but also minimizing any pain that may be caused to an unborn child.”

In other action on abortion, Utah’s House of Representatives held onto a bill that would have ended most abortions after a three-page constitutional note from legislative lawyers raised substantial concerns about the likelihood of litigation and the probability that the bill would be found unconstitutional.

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Contributing to this was Marie Mischel, editor of the Intermountain Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Salt Lake City.