Ruling lifts Indiana's near-total abortion ban for some with religious objections

This story has been updated with more information. 

A Marion County Superior Court judge granted a permanent injunction in the ACLU of Indiana religious freedom challenge to the state's abortion ban. The ruling lifts Indiana’s abortion law, enacted in 2022, for some with religious objections.

The law is a near-total ban. It only allows for exceptions in the case of a mother’s health, rape or incest, or a fatal fetal anomaly — each with varying time limits.

The ACLU filed a class action lawsuit three years ago for Hoosier Jews for Choice and two anonymous women. The unnamed plaintiffs are women of different faiths who say their beliefs can necessitate the procedure.

ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Stevie Pactor explained that one of the plaintiffs, who is Jewish, disagrees with the statute's statement that life begins when sperm meets egg. 

"So for these women, they might need an abortion because their pregnancy would exacerbate an existing medical condition," Pactor said. "They're under the ban. They're not allowed to get that abortion unless the medical condition that they're facing will either cause their death or the permanent impairment of a major bodily function."

The ACLU argued the law imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act  The Court agreed Thursday, March 5. 

Indiana Right to Life issued a statement in response to the ruling, President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Fichter called the decision "distressing—and a perversion of the law’s intent".

“Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was never intended to equate taking the life of an unborn child with religious expression in our state. While this current injunction is limited to the plaintiffs in the case only, if it withstands challenge, it will be exploited so anyone claiming a spiritual belief, even if personal and non-theistic, can justify taking a child’s life," Fichter's statement read. 

Because the court certified the case as a class action, the ruling may reach beyond the plaintiffs.

ACLU's Pactor said in a statement, “Today’s ruling is a recognition that religious freedom protects people of many faiths and beliefs, not just those favored by the state.”

The state's attorney general has appealed the decision.