You'll Never Guess Which State Court Just Approved Religious Exemptions From Abortion Bans

[marmar]

(Slate) On Thursday afternoon, in an important lawsuit seeking to clarify which religious objectors will be taken seriously when they seek legal exemptions, a group of plaintiffs in Indiana scored a notable win: A three-judge panel on the Indiana Court of Appeals agreed to enjoin Indiana’s near-total abortion ban, as applied against a class of religious plaintiffs who had argued that the ban violates a state law protecting religious freedom. In its unanimous 76-page opinion, authored by Judge Leanna K. Weissmann, the panel determined that a preliminary injunction granted to a group of plaintiffs who had alleged that Indiana’s abortion law violated their rights under the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act could remain in place. The case now proceeds to trial, or more likely to a direct appeal to the state Supreme Court.

Indiana became one of the first states to enact a near-total abortion ban after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. In September of that year, four state residents of various faiths and a group called Hoosier Jews for Choice claimed that the ban violated the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was passed with great fanfare in 2015 under the watchful eye of then-Gov. Mike Pence. The American Civil Liberties Union’s plaintiffs contended that the almost total ban violates Jewish law, which provides that “a fetus attains the status of a living person only at birth,” and religious tenets that give priority to the life and health of the mother over that of the fetus. They also cited the religious teachings of various other faiths that support seeking abortion care under broader circumstances than the ban allows. The plaintiffs contend that their sincere religious beliefs provide grounds for terminating pregnancies in circumstances that are criminalized under Indiana’s prohibition.

A state trial court judge had sided with the plaintiffs in December of 2022, and the state filed an appeal. Among the state’s objections, including ripeness and associational standing, they objected to the fact that the members of the plaintiff class did not share identical religious values, and that their abortion objections did not amount to religious views that should be protected under the state RFRA. As we cautioned after Dobbs was decided, at least one amicus brief filed in the case suggested that their proffered religious values were in fact pretextual. In allowing the injunction to stand, at least for now, with a narrowed class of plaintiffs, the Indiana court has signaled that no single religion has a monopoly on faith claims, and that members of dominant religious groups have no basis for casting doubt on the nature of faith claims advanced by others. ....................(more)

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/04/indiana-abortion-ban-religious-exemption-judaism-faith.html

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Freedom from religion is as much a right as religious freedom. Not one whit weaker. . . . . nt

[Wounded Bear]

2. Without freedom from religion there is no freedom of religion...nt

[Warpy]

3. "BUTBUTBUT" splutter Mike Pence and the fundagelical men he rode in on

"OUR religion is the only REAL one!"

And therein lies the rub, doesn't it?

We have a First Amendment that specifically prevents the establishment of any religion as all or part of government.

[Silent3]

4. But I guess an atheist can't get an exemption, right, because only a *religious* exemption counts? n/t

[rubbersole]

6. Can't have them there Heathens doin' their heathening in our state...

[EarnestPutz]

5. Perfect. Turn the abortion debate into what it has been all along anyway, a debate about whether the parameters.....

........of your morality, from your religious background, is superior to mine. People will leave the Christian churches in masses, no doubt "seeking a new faith more in line with my personal beliefs and sense of morality".

[DemocraticPatriot]

7. "Indiana wants me! Lord, I can't go back there...."

OK, I would have guessed Texas or Florida or any of the other former 'Confederate states'....

but Indiana has also ventured far away from 'the age of Lincoln'....
(one of the few states that has remained Republican after helping to elect Lincoln in 1860)