This is the WFHB Local News for Tuesday, May 18th, 2021.

Later in the program, WFHB Correspondent Max Campbell reports on the City of Bloomington’s resumed effort to annex roughly 10,000 acres of Monroe County land. You’ll hear more from State Senator Shelli Yoder among others in today’s feature report.

Also coming up in the next half hour, several abortion rights groups are challenging the State of Indiana in court over a controversial anti-abortion law signed by Governor Holcomb two weeks ago. More in today’s headlines.

But first, your local news brief:

The Indiana State Department of Health gave an update on COVID cases this afternoon. Indiana has 687 new COVID-19 cases and 15 new deaths. 14,934 tests were administered bringing the total to 10,050,352 of COVID tests administered in Indiana. Since March, there have been a total of 730,969 positive cases in the state, and 13,018 deaths. Updated Sunday, 2,135,682 Hoosiers ages 16 and up are now fully vaccinated.

Indiana is currently in a yellow advisory level. Counties must remain at a weekly two-metric score for two consecutive weeks before being able to move to a lower advisory level, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. Blue is the level below yellow, and would be the lowest level possible for a county to reach.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday afternoon that 12 to 15 year olds are now able to get the Pfizer vaccine shot. The decision was made after confirming to be safe and effective enough for younger teens. Vaccinations for this age group can open up after Wednesday's meeting of the advisory committee to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 20,000 pharmacy locations are already prepared to begin vaccinating adolescents once approved, said President Joe Biden. Shots will also be available through pediatricians offices.

Studies are still underway for the other vaccine options, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for being safe enough to administer to minors younger than 12 years old.

Indiana Faces Lawsuit from Abortion Rights Groups on Anti-Abortion Legislation

Several abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit against the State of Indiana for a controversial anti-abortion bill signed into law two weeks ago by Governor Eric Holcomb.

Among other restrictions, House Enrolled Act 1577 forces health care providers to share false and misleading information with their patients about “reversing” a medical abortion.

In February, Dr. Tracey Wilkinson testified against the bill at the Statehouse, saying this could be dangerous for women in Indiana.

“The state legislature should not mandate a physician to tell a patient these falsehoods that could ultimately endanger their patients’ lives,” she said.

In February, before the bill was passed, WFHB Correspondent Katherine Patterson talked to Advocacy and Public Policy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana Katie Blair who said that the ACLU was looking very carefully at this bill and said that it was completely unconstitutional.

“It would force health providers to lie to their patients, and provide dangerous, false and misleading information on abortion reversal, that’s putting patients at risk and ignoring science and the first amendment rights of medical providers," said Blair.

According to a study conducted by the University of California, 10% of women change their minds about medical abortion. However, Blair added that the bill contains information and should not be embraced by health care providers.

“No one benefits from when our health providers are forced to lie to us. It’s just outrageous and very dangerous and was opposed by many medical organizations and abort...