Synagogue challenges Florida abortion law over religion

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.

A new Florida regulation prohibiting abortion just after 15 weeks with some exceptions violates religious independence legal rights of Jews in addition to the point out constitution’s privacy protections, a synagogue promises in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit submitted by the Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach contends the regulation that takes effect July 1 violates Jewish teachings, which condition abortion “is required if essential to protect the overall health, mental or bodily perfectly-staying of the woman” and for other good reasons.

“As this sort of, the act prohibits Jewish women of all ages from practicing their religion no cost of authorities intrusion and this violates their privacy rights and religious freedom,” suggests the lawsuit, submitted Friday in Leon County Circuit Court docket.

The lawsuit provides that individuals who “do not share the religious sights reflected in the act will put up with” and that it “threatens the Jewish folks by imposing the guidelines of other religions on Jews.”

The lawsuit is the second obstacle to the 15-week abortion ban enacted before this 12 months by the Legislature and signed into law by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Planned Parenthood and other reproductive overall health suppliers also sued earlier this thirty day period to block the regulation from getting effect.

In a prior statement, DeSantis’ business office said it “is self-confident that this legislation will finally endure all legal problems.”

The two lawsuits are probably to be consolidated into a one situation. A hearing on a proposed injunction to block the Florida abortion legislation is possible in the up coming two weeks.

The law mirrors a equivalent evaluate handed in Mississippi that is now prior to the U.S. Supreme Court, which may use it to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion conclusion centered on a leaked draft feeling. A closing ruling on Roe is predicted by the conclusion of June.

In Florida, Rabbi Barry Silver of Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor — the title implies “Generation to Generation”— stated it methods “cosmic Judaism,” which he defines on the synagogue’s web site as “the Judaism of tomorrow today” that respects science, tradition and spirituality.

Silver is an attorney, social activist and previous Democratic condition legislator who types himself as a “Rabbi-rouser” on his possess web site. In an interview Tuesday, Silver explained when separation of religion and govt crumbles, religious minorities this kind of as Jews generally go through.

“Every time that wall begins to crack, terrible things begin to happen,” he mentioned, noting that DeSantis signed the regulation at an evangelical Christian church.

The new Florida abortion law, is made up of exceptions if the abortion is necessary to help save a mother’s existence, avert critical damage or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow for for exemptions in conditions wherever pregnancies were brought about by rape, incest or human trafficking.

Underneath present-day regulation, Florida enables abortions up to 24 weeks.

No faith is monolithic on the abortion difficulty. Nevertheless several followers of faiths that do not prohibit abortion are aghast that a view held by a minority of Us citizens could supersede their individual rights and religious beliefs this sort of as the placement of Judaism as outlined in the lawsuit.

“This ruling would be outlawing abortion in situations when our faith would permit us,” reported Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, scholar in residence at the Nationwide Council of Jewish Ladies, “and it is basing its ideas of when everyday living commences on a person else’s philosophy or theology.”