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I havent agreed with every position Gov. Eric Holcomb has taken, but overall, he has reminded me of the Republican Party to which I used to belonga time when serious people concerned themselves with issues of governance rather than initiating constant battles in Americas culture wars.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is a perfect example of the culture warriors who dominate todays GOP, so I was startled when he joined members of the General Assembly in defending residents right to control their own bodies, a position admirably articulated by Martinsville Rep. Peggy Mayfield:

Hoosiers should have the right to make health care decisions that best suit their families, their personal medical circumstances, and a broad interpretation of their religious beliefsa concept that were disappointed to see Indiana University has rejected.

The genesis of this remarkable turnaroundnot just by our desperate-for-attention AG, but from a number of firmly anti-choice legislatorswas Indiana Universitys decision to require students and employees to be vaccinated in order to return to in-person instruction. In an opinion that most lawyersand several members of the General Assemblydescribed as a reach, Rokita is claiming that a bill passed during the last legislative session prohibits the university from doing so.

I will leave the legal arguments to practicing lawyers, but I cant restrain myself from pointing to the unbelievable hypocrisy displayed by Rokitas sudden support for the fundamental liberties protected by the Bill of Rights.

The statement that Hoosiers should have the right to make health care decisions that best suit their families and religious beliefs is, without a doubt, correct. It is precisely the point of the pro-choice position, which I will note is not a pro-abortion position. The issue is not what decision is madeit is who has the authority to make it.

What is particularly ludicrous about this sudden concern for an individuals right to control of his or her own bodycoming as it does from rabidly pro-life folksis that it is so inconsistent with their willingness to trample those same constitutional protections in order to appeal to constituencies displaying absolutely no regard for the protection of personal autonomy.

Ironically, Indiana Universitys decision to require vaccinations is self-evidently a pro-life decision. The university is following the science and acting to protect the life and health of the entire university community. (Of course, the people they are protecting have already been born, which evidently makes a difference.) And as a friend recently noted, IUs action protects the lives of multiple individuals who are not similarly endangered by a womans decision to terminate a pregnancy.

Republicans in Indianas Legislaturedominated as that body is by rural interests, thanks to gerrymanderinghave stridently opposed Holcombs efforts to minimize the dangers of the pandemic. They have moved to erode the governors power to act swiftly to mitigate future threats to Hoosier health and safety, all in the name of a freedom they are manifestly unwilling to extend to people who use that freedom in ways with which they disagree.

Our ambitious attorney general has cast his lot with those Republicans, whoit must be admittedare representative of what the Grand Old Party has become. Rick Wilsonone of the Lincoln Group of prominent ex-Republicansrecently opined that todays GOP is no longer the party of Lincoln; it is now the party of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The grandstanders, culture warriors and conspiracy theorists are waging war on Holcomb and other remnants of the old GOP.

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Kennedy recently retired as professor of law and public policy at the Paul H. ONeill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI.

More:
Sheila Kennedy: Holcomb, Rokita and the radicalization of the GOP - Indianapolis Business Journal