Attorney General Todd Rokita has appealed a Marion County judge’s ruling blocking Indiana’s near-total abortion ban for a select group of Hoosiers who argue their religious freedom requires access to an abortion.
“We disagree with the court’s decision and have already appealed,” an offices spokesman said. “As we have with every challenge against our pro-life law, we’ll continue fighting to protect the lives of the unborn.”
Judge Christina R. Klineman ruled Thursday that Indiana’s abortion law imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise protected by the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The case was filed three years ago on behalf of several anonymous plaintiffs and Hoosiers Jews for Choice. The plaintiffs don’t believe that life begins at conception.
“This Permanent Injunction is meant simply to capture those rare instances where an abortion does not fall within the enumerated exceptions but is likewise a necessary religious exercise,” the decision said. “Although advances in medicine are extraordinary, neither party to this action have provided this court with an alternative mean to the very binary proposition of carrying a fetus to term or not.
The judge made an existing temporary injunction permanent and said it also applies to others in Indiana whose religious beliefs call for an abortion.
“Today’s ruling is a recognition that religious freedom protects people of many faiths and beliefs, not just those favored by the state,” said Stevie Pactor, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana. “For more than three years, our clients have challenged a law that forces them to choose between their faith and their autonomy. This decision makes it clear that Indiana cannot enforce its abortion ban in ways that violate their religious freedom.”
Indiana Right to Life President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Fichter applauded Rokita’s move to appeal and hopes for a stay during the appeal process.
“For the court to rule that taking the life of an unborn child is an exercise of religious freedom is deeply distressing — and a perversion of the law’s intent,” he said.
“Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was never intended to equate taking the life of an unborn child with religious expression in our state,” Fichter continued. “While this current injunction is limited to the plaintiffs in the case only, if it withstands challenge, it will be exploited so anyone claiming a spiritual belief, even if personal and non-theistic, can justify taking a child’s life.”
The case would next go to the Indiana Court of Appeals.
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