Indiana’s Court of Appeals questioned attorneys this week on exceptions to the state’s abortion ban.

Indiana’s Court of Appeals questioned attorneys this week on exceptions to the state’s abortion ban in a case involving residents who are suing on grounds that it violates a state religious freedom law. The class action lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of five anonymous residents and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice, argues Indiana’s abortion ban violates the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act that was approved by Republican lawmakers in 2015. The suit was originally filed in September 2022 and a county judge sided with the residents last December. The lawsuit argues the ban violates Jewish teachings that “a fetus attains the status of a living person only at birth” and that “Jewish law stresses the necessity of protecting the life and physical and mental health of the mother prior to birth as the fetus is not yet deemed to be a person.