From humble farmers to city dwellers, rural up-by-your-bootstraps culture to the Lake Michigan coastal lifestyle, it’s no surprise Indiana is considered the Crossroads of America, the diverging point of so many approaches to the American way of life. The larger country, I’ve found, easily dismisses the unassuming state of my childhood in national social and political conversations. Yet recently, it has become abundantly clear that the battle for America’s soul rages in its Heartland.
The Crossroads of America has become the Crossroads of the Abortion Debate.
The University of Notre Dame thrust itself center-stage with its promotion of Professor Susan Ostermann to lead the Liu Institute of Asia and Asian Studies, an ironic move given Ostermann’s history with the Population Council, a driving force behind the killing of tens of millions of Chinese babies under the One-Child Policy. Ostermann’s 11 pro-abortion op-eds directly contradicted the Catholic teachings Notre Dame claims to uphold. Despite calls from Catholic bishops, Notre Dame students, Notre Dame Right to Life Executive Board, Students for Life, and more, the University stood behind Ostermann’s promotion. Ostermann eventually decided to step down from the position due to all the backlash but remains an employee of the University.
A Noblesville school district high school denied a student the ability to promote her Students for Life group’s pro-life messaging. But before you claim it’s because it was “too political,” note that the school allows other political groups such as Young Democrats and Gender and Sexuality Alliance to promote their ideals — and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know those groups are decidedly not pro-life.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a writ of certiorari petition in E.D. v. Noblesville School District on behalf of the student, taking this case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s doorstep, where it awaits the decision on whether it will be heard by the highest court in the land.
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This isn’t the first time Indiana Catholic schools or high schools have become a hotbed of sociopolitical disputes. Hoosiers — especially Catholic high schoolers at the time like me — may remember the 2018 and 2019 uproars over the contract non-renewals of two counselors and firing of a teacher in openly same-sex marriages in two Catholic high schools One such teacher remained on staff at a third Catholic high school, all in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. The archdiocese severed ties with the third school.
These stories made national headlines.
While this may seem unrelated, the powers that be in the so-called LGBTQ community (and elites like Ellen DeGeneres who pushed these stories) are extremely vocal in their support of abortion (and somehow continually connect the two). Case in point: The National LGBTQ Task Force’s main focus in the “reproductive justice” sphere is abortion. And Abortion Goliath Planned Parenthood gives out puberty blockers, surgery referrals, and more as part of their so-called “gender affirming care.”
While pro-abortion activists are intent on killing children in the womb and sterilizing those who are born as they infiltrate the state’s educational institutions, Indiana’s legislators act decisively pro-life.
Indiana legislators called a special session when Roe v. Wade was overturned to become the first state to pass new legislation to protect preborn children from conception.
This year, Indiana state senators quickly passed SB0236 to impose criminal and civil penalties on Chemical Abortion Pill vendors. Chemical Abortion is now the nation’s number one abortion method, accounting for a reported 642,700 deaths in a single year. Chemical Abortion Pill vendors openly flaunt their targeting of pro-life states like Indiana, adding fuel to the fire.
The introduction of HB1349 sought to prohibit the state from using public funds for abortion-related expenses, including travel for abortion. This comes after Attorney General Todd Ritka filed a 2025 amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court to overturn a court order blocking the state’s prohibition of public funding for abortion vendors.
While both SB0236 and HB1349 sadly died, the momentum is there.
Throughout all this, the Republican party has held firm control over the governor’s office, House, and Senate since 2011, revealing a majority conservative, pro-life voting population within the state.
This is key.
Everyday Hoosiers clearly support protections for Life in the womb. Indiana’s infrastructure must uphold this, which means passing legislation that protects preborn children and supports pregnant and parenting women, and hiring staff at faith-based schools that uphold Life-affirming teachings.
Indiana stands on the frontlines of the battle for America’s soul and the hearts and minds of its young people. They must be protected from this insane ideology that seeks to silence, sterilize, and, when in the womb, kill them.
The ballot box must not be regarded as the final battle, but the first. Cultural institutions, societal influencers, and political leaders must be held accountable for upholding Indiana values, for protecting the lives and minds of young Hoosiers.
Mary Kate Horlander was born and raised in Indiana and now works as a press specialist and online editor at Students for Life.
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