After the Supreme Court, overwhelmingly a body of a majority of conservative judges after former President Donald Trump managed to get three of his own picks on the court, overturned the longtime precedent set by Roe v Wade, a number of states have been faced with attempts to ban abortion altogether. This was the case in Indiana, where conservative lawmakers passed a law banning the medical procedure after 16 weeks with a limited number of exceptions.
On Friday, that ban was overturned by a second judge, agreeing with defendants who brought the case that say that the ban is a violation of their religious rights. Jewish and Muslim defendants won a victory when Marion County Superior Court Judge Heather Welch determined that the ban “substantially burdens the religious exercise of the Plaintiffs.”
Reuters writes that:
‘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 attempt to ban abortion was already shut down when a judge determined earlier in the year that the ban violated the Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. While conservative Christians argued that their own religious rights had been violated by laws allowing for abortion, they will not be able to enforce their religious beliefs on others who disagree with them.
Twitter had a lot to say about the judge’s ruling. Read some of their comments below:
