A diverse group South Florida religious leaders have filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, arguing it violates freedom of speech and the free exercise of religion.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami-Dade County on Monday, seeks to overturn the new state law, which restricts abortion after 15 weeks and provides no exception for rape, incest or trafficking. The legal action comes after the Supreme Court overturned the precedent of Roe v. Wade in June, paving the way for states to implement abortion bans.
The filing is spearheaded by seven faith-based leaders in Florida, six of whom are from South Florida. The plaintiffs represent a wide array of religious denominations, including Open Awareness Buddhist Center, Temple Beth Sholom, Congregation Beth Am, Beth Or, United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalist Congregation.
The plaintiffs are filing the lawsuits as individuals, and not as representatives for their religious institutions.
The Rev. Laurinda Hafner of Coral Gables United Church of Christ said the clergy leaders came together and decided to file the lawsuit in part because they’re “concerned about the future of our state and the future of our religious freedom to talk with parishioners or to openly share with those who are faced with difficult decisions or aspects of reproductive justice to do so freely and faithfully.”
While some South Florida church leaders have celebrated the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Hafner said she believes those groups are in the minority and that a “majority of Christians do believe in a woman’s right to choose.”
“I think because their voices are so strident and so bold and so out there, that folks kind of lump them into all Christian thought,” Hafner said.
“Our goal here is to remind people there is another witness. There are other voices and I do not want my religious freedom hijacked by those who say this is the Christian way because it’s not.”
A Leon circuit judge last month blocked the 15-week abortion law, declaring it a likely violation of the Florida Constitution. But the judge’s decision was quickly overturned because of a state appeal.
In the newest legal case involving religious leaders, they are being represented by Marci Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the law firms of Spiro Harrison and Jayaram Law.
“For decades, the Catholic bishops and the Evangelical right wing have claimed a singular religious high ground on the issue of abortion rights, and tried to label anyone opposed to their views as ‘secularists,’ Hamilton said in a news release.
“Yet there are millions of Americans whose deeply held religious beliefs, speech, and conduct are being substantially burdened by restrictive abortion bans. Freedom of religion must protect the religious rights and beliefs of all citizens — not just those opposed to women’s right to choose.”
The lawsuit challenging the abortion ban is one of numerous cases filed against the state, including one case in Leon County Circuit Court centering on the argument that the law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks violates a privacy clause in Florida’s Constitution that includes the right to terminate a pregnancy.
