INDIANAPOLIS (AP) 鈥� A top Indiana lawyer on Friday questioned the validity of a who argue that the state's abortion ban violates their religious freedoms.
A judge heard arguments Friday for about an hour in an Indianapolis courtroom, spurred by claims from five anonymous residents 鈥� who hold Jewish, Muslim and spiritual faiths 鈥� and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice. They argue the ban 鈥� which is currently blocked due to a separate lawsuit 鈥� violates their religious rights regarding when they believe abortion is acceptable.
The lawsuit says the ban violates the Jewish teaching that 鈥渁 fetus attains the status of a living person only at birth鈥� and that 鈥淛ewish law stresses the necessity of protecting the life and physical and mental health of the mother prior to birth." It also cites theological teachings allowing abortion in at least some circumstances by Islamic, Episcopal, Unitarian Universalist and pagan faiths.
鈥淭he state simply cannot decree what is religious and what is secular,鈥� Ken Falk, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana鈥檚 legal director, said Friday.
Filed in Marion County court, the religious freedom lawsuit is filed by the ACLU. It cites a state law that in 2015 to prohibit any laws that 鈥渟ubstantially burden鈥� a person鈥檚 ability to follow their religious beliefs. Critics have decried the Republican-backed measure as a thinly disguised attempt to permit discrimination against gay people.
In response to the religious freedom complaint, the state attorney general鈥檚 office said the anonymous stories cited in the lawsuit are too abstract to be analyzed, adding that 鈥渢heir asserted harms regarding changes to their contraceptive and sexual practices do not outweigh the grave consequences of killing an unborn child.鈥�
Solicitor General Thomas Fisher reiterated that argument on Friday, when he maintained the anonymous plaintiffs' 鈥渉ypothetical鈥� reasons for an abortion do not meet the religious freedom law's 鈥渃ase-specific, factual inquiry鈥� requirement.
鈥淲e're not in the moment when the abortion is becoming part of the religious exercise, if ever it does,鈥� Fisher said.
Marion County Judge Heather Welch said both sides must submit additional written arguments by Oct. 28 and she will make her decision within 30 days after that.
The ACLU's other lawsuit something the Indiana Supreme Court
The high court took over appeals of a judge鈥檚 decision in September that blocked the ban a week after it took effect and denied a request from the state to set aside the temporary block. A scheduled hearing on the lawsuit, filed in August by abortion clinic operators, is set for Jan. 12.
Because the state Supreme Court is considering the other case, Fisher said issuing a preliminary injunction for the religious freedom one would have "symbolic significance鈥� only.
鈥淪ymbolic rulings are not the role of the court,鈥� Fisher, a top deputy to Republican Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, said Friday.
Falk, however, told reporters after the hearing that having a second preliminary injunction against the ban creates more certainty, especially because the lawsuits deal with separate aspects of the law.
The abortion ban, which includes narrow exceptions, on Aug. 5 and signed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb. That made Indiana the first state to enact tighter abortion restrictions since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in June.
No faith is monolithic on the abortion issue. Yet many followers of faiths that do not prohibit abortion have could supersede their individual rights and religious beliefs, such as the position of Judaism as outlined in the lawsuit.
Similar lawsuits have been filed elsewhere recently, including in and in Florida, where a
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Arleigh Rodgers is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/arleighrodgers
Arleigh Rodgers, The Associated Press
