Abortion is not a religious ritual protected by the First Amendment

A Jewish synagogue in Florida filed a lawsuit last week claiming the state’s law banning abortion after 15 weeks, HB 5, violates the right to free exercise of religion. It argues that it “threatens the Jewish people by imposing the laws of other religions upon Jews.”

“The Act establishes as the law of the State of Florida, a particular religious view about abortion and when life begins, which is contrary to the views of Plaintiff, its members, congregants, and supporters as well as many other Floridians,” the plaintiff, Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach, Florida, said in the case.