{"id":275938,"date":"2022-09-13T12:46:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T17:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=275938"},"modified":"2022-09-12T16:39:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T21:39:15","slug":"indiana-pro-life-law-challenged-religious-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/indiana-pro-life-law-challenged-religious-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana pro-life law challenged on grounds that it violates religious freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Abortion advocates have filed a lawsuit against the state of Indiana over its new law, which protects nearly all preborn children from abortion. The suit was filed by\u00a0the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of five anonymous residents and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice, who argue that the law violates their religious rights. According to the Indy Star<\/a>, the group maintains that the pro-life law violates the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Passed in 2015, that law “prevents the government from impeding someone’s religious exercise unless there’s a strong argument in favor of the state’s interest.”<\/p>\n

Central to the lawsuit’s argument is the claim that not all religions believe that life begins at conception (fertilization).<\/p>\n

“For example, under Jewish law, a fetus attains the status of a living person only at birth,” the lawsuit states. “Jewish law recognizes that abortions may occur, and should occur as a religious matter, under circumstances not allowed by (the near-total abortion ban) or existing Indiana law.” The suit also notes<\/a> that \u201cJewish law stresses the necessity of protecting the life and physical and mental health of the mother prior to birth as the fetus is not yet deemed to be a person.\u201d<\/p>\n