A Jewish synagogue is suing the state of Florida over a new abortion law that would ban the procedure after 15 weeks of a pregnancy.
According to its website, Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor, a synagogue based in Boynton Beach, practices “an all-inclusive, universal, and rational approach to Judaism.” The place of worship filed a lawsuit against the state last week in Leon County Circuit Court, asserting that the new law violates members’ constitutional provisions on privacy and religious rights enshrined in Florida’s state constitution.
“In Jewish law, abortion is required if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman, or for many other reasons not permitted under the act,” Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor asserts in its lawsuit. “As such, the act prohibits Jewish women from practicing their faith free of government intrusion and thus violates their privacy rights and religious freedom.”
The suit further contends that the new abortion restrictions, which are set to be implemented on July 1, would promote certain Christian viewpoints in violation of the Florida Constitution, which states, “There shall be no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting or penalizing the free expression thereof.”
Jews and other residents in the state who “do not share the religious views reflected in the act will suffer … irreparable harm,” the synagogue states.
The lawsuit further stipulates that:
This failure to maintain the separation of church and state, like so many other laws in other lands throughout history, threatens the Jewish family, and thus also threatens the Jewish people by imposing the laws of other religions upon Jews.
Assertions of religious preference in passing the law may be relevant as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida) signed the bill into law inside a Christian church in Kissimmee back in April.
Beyond establishing a burdensome timeframe within which a person can obtain an abortion, the new law also provides no exceptions for rape, incest or human trafficking. It does allow abortion in cases where a pregnancy poses a “serious risk” to a person’s life or health.
This is the second lawsuit filed against the state over the 15-week abortion law. Earlier this month, abortion rights groups and abortion providers, organized by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida, also filed a challenge to the law. It’s possible that the two lawsuits could be enjoined by the court system to create one joint challenge to the state law.
The statute, sometimes known as HB 5, “ignores the real life circumstances of people who need an abortion and deliberately puts them in harm’s way,” said ACLU of Florida legal director Daniel Tilley in a statement after the lawsuit was filed.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy