ACLU Files Second Suit Challenging Indiana’s Near-Total Abortion Ban

By Casey Smith, Indiana Capital Chronicle

September 8, 2022

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on Thursday filed a second lawsuit challenging Indiana’s near-total abortion ban that is set to take effect in one week.

The class action lawsuit was filed in Marion County Superior Court on behalf of Hoosier Jews for Choice, as well as five anonymous women who represent a variety of faiths including, Judaism, Islam, and independent spiritual belief systems.

They argue that they have “sincere religious beliefs that direct them to obtain an abortion” that would be banned “and who are at risk of needing an abortion in the future consistent with these beliefs.” The lawsuit seeks an injunction on the Indiana abortion law.

Indiana was the first state in the nation to approve such legislation since the high court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. The ban is still set to take effect on Sept. 15.

“Indiana’s RFRA law protects religious freedom for all Hoosiers, not just those who practice Christianity,” ACLU of Indiana legal director Ken Falk said in a statement. “The ban on abortion will substantially burden the exercise of religion by many Hoosiers who, under the new law, would be prevented from obtaining abortions, in conflict with their sincere religious beliefs.”

Specifically, the lawsuit claims the new abortion ban violates Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

RFRA passed the Indiana legislature in 2015, prohibiting government action that interferes with a person’s religious exercise. It stipulates that the government must show a compelling reason to enact a law that forces someone to do something against their religious beliefs.

According to the ACLU of Indiana lawsuit, although some religions — and adherents of those religions — believe that human life begins at conception, “this is not a theological opinion shared by all religions or all religious persons.”

Last week, the ACLU of Indiana filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of health care providers and a pregnancy resource center.

The suit argues that the abortion ban “will infringe on Hoosiers’ right to privacy, violate Indiana’s guarantee of equal privileges and immunities, and violate the Constitution’s due course of law clause through its unconstitutionally vague language.”

The court challenge is based on the Indiana Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States in June ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee abortion rights.

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