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Marion County Superior Court Judge Heather Welch issued a
preliminary injunction against the Republican-backed law, which
prohibits abortions with limited exceptions for rape, incest,
lethal fetal abnormalities or a serious health risk to the
mother. The plaintiffs have argued that the measure infringes on
religious freedom protected by another state law.
The law had already been on hold, as another judge in September
blocked Indiana from enforcing it while Planned Parenthood and
other healthcare providers challenge it in court.
Indiana became the first state to pass a new law banning
abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned its
landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized the
procedure nationwide. Other Republican-led states quickly began
enforcing older bans.
Welch issued her injunction after a group called Hoosier Jews
for Choice and five individual women challenged the abortion law
under Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act in a case
brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU said the
plaintiffs represented religions including Judaism and Islam as
well as "independent spiritual belief systems."
"The Court finds that S.E.A. 1 substantially burdens the
religious exercise of the Plaintiffs," Welch wrote, using the
formal name of the law, in granting the plaintiffs' motion for a
preliminary injunction while the challenge to its legality
proceeds.
"Although some religions believe that human life begins at
conception, this is not an opinion shared by all religions or
all religious people," the ACLU said in a statement.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by
Will Dunham)
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