Whole Womans Health Alliance has been trying to open a clinic in the northern Indiana city since 2017, but the state refused to issue a license.

The rally was part of a coordinated effort to protest recent anti-abortion legislation in states like Alabama and Georgia.

The federal lawsuit comes after the Indiana State Department of Health denied the Alliances original application.

Pharmacists could deny women access to abortion-inducing drugs if they have a moral or ethical objection under a bill approved by a Senate committee Wednesday.

Dilation and evacuation abortion procedures, or D&Es, are performed in the second trimester. And they're currently legal up to around 20 weeks. Proposed legislation would ban them unless there are serious health risks to the mother.

Texas-based Whole Woman's Health Alliance reapplied for the license Thursday, avoiding what it feared would be a lengthy legal battle.

The 2-1 ruling was made last month by an Indiana Department of Health administrative panel, but the panel didn't immediately explain the rejection.

A South Bend abortion clinic is still barred from opening after an Indiana State Department of Health panel reversed an administrative judge's earlier ruling.

Whole Woman's Health Alliance applied more than a year ago to open an abortion clinic in South Bend.

An Indianapolis judge ruled Whole Woman's Health Alliance had provided all the necessary information, and that the health department hadn't provided a legitimate reason for the denial.