Synagogue Sues Florida over Pro-Life Law, Claims Abortion Restriction Violates Religious Freedom

A Jewish synagogue in South Florida has sued the state over its recently enacted pro-life law, claiming that it violates its religious freedom.

Plaintiff Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach argues that the legislation, which outlaws abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, conflicts with a tenet of the Jewish faith that permits abortion “if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman.” The synagogue claims that the law would punish its congregants that receive an abortion.

Calling it “unconstitutionally vague,” the lawsuit alleges that the law “prohibits Jewish women from practicing their faith free of government intrusion and this violates their privacy rights and religious freedom.”

However, Florida’s law has an exemption for the case in which the pregnancy seriously threatens the life of the mother, which must be confirmed by a second doctor in writing, or if a fatal fetal abnormality is detected.

“Two physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman other than a psychological condition,” the law reads.

The plaintiffs also claimed that the law would harm the Jewish people by forcing them to practice the teachings of other religions. It would also force some of its pregnant women to travel to a different state to seek an abortion, a delay which could “increase the danger and harm to women from abortion, which nevertheless is less than the dangers of childbirth,” the synagogue claims.

The DeSantis administration, which is named a defendant in the case alongside state attorneys Jack Campbell and David Aronberg, attorney general Ashley Moody, the Florida Department of Health and other state health agencies, doubled-down on the validity of the measure when asked for comment.

“Our office is confident that this law will ultimately withstand all legal challenges,” a spokesman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in a statement obtained by Reuters.

The synagogue’s lawsuit comes after the surprise leak of a draft Supreme Court majority opinion that appears to project the reversal of Roe v. Wade, in the absence of which federal mandate would send the abortion issue to the state legislatures to regulate.