INDIANAPOLIS (AP) 鈥� The Indiana Court of Appeals gave an incremental win Thursday to a group of residents suing the state over its near-total abortion ban, arguing that it violates a state law protecting religious freedom.
The three-judge panel's ruling agreed with a lower court that plaintiffs with a religious objection to the ban should be exempt from it. But the written decision had no immediate effect and may be challenged in the state Supreme Court within the next 45 days.
Indiana鈥檚 near total abortion ban went into effect in August after the Indiana Supreme Court upheld it, ending a separate legal challenge.
The religious challenge against the ban was brought by four residents and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice in , saying it violates a state religious-freedom law . A county judge 鈥� who are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana 鈥� last December. Indiana later .
鈥淔or many Hoosiers, the ability to obtain an abortion is necessary based on a sincerely held religious belief,鈥� said Ken Falk, ACLU of Indiana Legal Director, in a statement.
The appeals court ordered the trial court to 鈥渘arrow鈥� the earlier preliminary injunction only to residents who according to their sincerely held religious beliefs require an abortion. The order also affirmed class certification in the case, which the state challenged.
The ACLU鈥檚 lawsuit argues that the ban violates 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 as the fetus is not yet deemed to be a person.鈥� It also cites theological teachings allowing abortion in at least some circumstances by Islamic, Episcopal, Unitarian Universalist and Pagan faiths.
鈥淲e are dealing with a very favorable decision that is not yet final,鈥� Falk said when speaking to reporters Thursday. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita鈥檚 office did not immediately comment on the ruling.
The appeals court panel consistently sided with the residents over the state of Indiana fighting the injunction. The judges agreed with the original county judge that for the plaintiffs, obtaining an abortion when directed by their sincere religious beliefs 鈥渋s their exercise of religion.鈥�
鈥淭hey also have shown their sexual and reproductive lives will continue to be restricted absent the injunction," the order said.
A judge heard arguments in a similar lawsuit in in November, in which 13 Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders are seeking a permanent injunction barring Missouri鈥檚 abortion law. The lawyers for the plaintiffs said at a court hearing that state lawmakers intended to 鈥渋mpose their religious beliefs on everyone鈥� in the state.
, claiming the state鈥檚 ban violates their religious rights under the state鈥檚 constitution and religious freedom law.
Indiana became the after the U.S. Supreme Court ended federal abortion protections by in June 2022.
The near total ban makes exceptions for abortions at hospitals in cases of rape or incest and to protect the life and physical health of the mother or if a fetus is diagnosed with a lethal anomaly.
The ACLU revamped another legal challenge to the ban in November. In an , abortion providers are seeking a preliminary junction on the ban in order to expand medical exemptions and block the requirement that abortions must be provided at a hospital.
Isabella Volmert, The Associated Press
