Religious freedom: The next battleground for US abortion rights?
Religious freedom: The next battleground for US abortion rights?
As a synagogue sues Florida over a new abortion law, experts say faith could be at the heart of post-Roe abortion defence.
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According to a recent poll, 13 percent of Catholics in the United States said abortion should be legal in all cases, while 43 percent said it should be legal but with some exceptions [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]
By Jillian Kestler-D'Amours
Published On 17 Jun 202217 Jun 2022
Rabbi Barry Silver says his Florida synagogue is thinking about future generations.Thats why Congregation LDor Va-Dor Generation to Generation in Hebrew has filed a lawsuit against a new law in the US state that will outlaw abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. But unlike other legal challenges to abortion restrictions in the United States that most often rest on the right to privacy upon which abortion rights have relied for decades, the synagogue is arguing that Floridas abortion law violates religious freedom. Jewish law says that life begins at birth, not at conception, Silver told Al Jazeera.
A woman is not just entitled to have an abortion [in Judaism], she is required to have an abortion to protect her mental wellbeing, to protect her health, to protect her safety, he said. This law would prohibit Jewish women from practising Jewish law.
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I think faith is going to be a really big component of post-Roe legal strategies, but also just generally organising strategies, said Elizabeth Reiner Platt, director of the Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Columbia Law School. She pointed to the key role faith leaders played in helping women access abortion services before Roe, including the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, a group of Christian ministers and Jewish rabbis that offered abortion counselling and referrals beginning in the late 1960s. There have been various [legal] claims that there is a religious obligation, either to provide [abortion] counselling and support, or to provide the medical care itself, or a religious right in some of the cases to access abortion for ones self, Platt also told Al Jazeera.
Church-state separation
There are two primary ways to make religious freedom arguments on abortion, Platt said. A person can argue they have a religious obligation to do something, but that a law or policy punishes them for acting on their beliefs, or they can argue that a law or policy violates church-state separation. That latter principle is set out in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which bars the government from passing any law respecting an establishment of religion. Theres certainly been more decided on that in the federal system, Platt said, pointing to a ruling (Harris v McRae) that she said ultimately found that just because a statute happens to coincide with the tenets of some religion doesnt make it inherently religious.
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A 2014 Pew Research Center survey found that 55 percent of Muslim respondents said abortion should be legal in most cases in the country a position shared by 83 percent of Jews, 82 percent of Buddhists, and 68 percent of Hindus, among others. I certainly would not think that this [Florida lawsuit] is going to be the last case that we see that contains claims about peoples faith beliefs because the majority of religious people support abortion rights, and theres a really long history of faith-based activism, said Platt. She added that while it is difficult to say whether the Florida challenge will be successful, the case should be taken seriously because the US has incredibly expansive protection for religious liberty at the state level.And so I dont think we can be too quick to dismiss these arguments.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/17/religious-freedom-the-next-battleground-for-us-abortion-rights
lark
(23,099 posts)It does require parental approval if the patient is a under certain age, believe it's 17 based on my friends relative's experience. She had n abortion at 17 five years ago and didn't have to get a parents signature.
Timeflyer
(1,993 posts)According to the Guttmacher Institute, in Florida the following are additional abortion regulations as of March 1, 2020:
A patient must receive state-directed counseling that includes information designed to discourage the patient from having an abortion.
Health plans offered in the states health exchange under the Affordable Care Act can only cover abortion in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest, unless individuals purchase an optional rider at an additional cost.
The parent of a minor must be notified before an abortion is provided.
Public funding is available for abortion only in cases of life endangerment, rape or incest.
A patient must undergo an ultrasound before obtaining an abortion; the provider must offer the patient the option to view the image.
An abortion may be performed at 24 or more weeks after the last menstrual period only in cases of life or health endangerment.
All of the above may have changed by now. For instance, in April 2022 a FL judge ok'd GOPs 24-hour waiting period, to add to the obstacles women currently face in obtaining abortion (because those sluts need to be punished--let's make 'em wait and come back). And when Gov. DeathSatan's fav new law goes into effect, no abortions after 15 weeks. Or if the corrupt Supreme Court decision goes forward, forced birth for everyone.
Skittles
(153,160 posts)I used to love Wisconsin, considered retiring there - WTF happened, UGH