Is there a religious right to abortion? State supreme court will weigh in
An Indiana advocacy group and two Jewish women are preparing to tell the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday that they should be exempt from the state’s near-total ban on abortion because it violates their exercise of religion. (Image from Shutterstock)
An Indiana advocacy group and two Jewish women are preparing to tell the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday that they should be exempt from the state’s near-total ban on abortion because it violates their exercise of religion.
Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act largely prohibits the state from enacting provisions that substantially burden someone’s exercise of religion, and the plaintiffs in the case—Hoosier Jews for Choice and two Jewish women—argue that their religion permits and sometimes compels terminating a pregnancy, according to a story from Bloomberg Law.
Indiana’s lower courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, but the state claims that a religious exemption in this case would undermine its compelling interest in saving human lives, Bloomberg Law reports.
Micah Schwartzman, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law who joined an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs, noted in comments to Bloomberg Law that the case is an important test of the tenet that everyone is entitled to religious freedom.
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