Politics

A Synagogue Is Suing Florida Over the Law Banning Abortion After 15 Weeks

The ban violates Jewish law which allows abortions for the health, mental or physical well-being of women

Remember how I’m always saying that karma is a bitch and always comes back to bite you in the ass? Well, it has finally come for the Dark Lord of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis.

You will recall that he signed one of those 15-week abortion ban laws with no exceptions except for the life of the mother or if two doctors determine that the fetus has a fatal abnormality. So if you are trafficked, raped, or the victim of incest in Florida, you’re shit outta luck.

None of us really thought much about it at the time cuz all the cool kids in the Red states were doing it so it was just a case of Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Now I need to digress a little, so try to stay with me. A few days ago, I wrote about how DeSantis, who infamously passed the Don’t Say Gay law, was headed to New York City to give a speech for a conservative Jewish group in the heart of gay New York during Pride month.

Hang in there, we’re close to my point.

His topic was “the vibrancy of Jewish life in Florida.” At the time, I said that I wasn’t going to go down that rabbit hole.

Today, I’m going down that rabbit hole.

The synagogue, Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor, a progressive synagogue located in Palm Beach County is suing the state of Florida over that very same 15-week abortion ban law.

Hold on to your fedoras kids, cuz this is a doozy.

Their argument is that according to Jewish law “abortion is required if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman” so banning abortion after 15 weeks with almost no exceptions violates Jewish women’s right to privacy and freedom of religion as laid out in Florida’s constitution.

Don’tcha just love it when conservative Christians forget that there are other religions that have their own values and beliefs?

Now karma doesn’t fuck around. It’s comin’ for the Supreme Court too. Yes, I know that SCOTUS will have already ruled on Roe by the time this suit reaches it. But this suit isn’t so much about abortion as it is about freedom of religion.

Remember, striking down Roe was done at the behest of conservative Christians who want to impose their religious beliefs on the entire country. This may only happen in Red states after Roe is struck down, but it’s a start.

If this suit goes to the Supreme Court, as I think that it will, the justices will be in a quandary. Remember, they are big on the Constitution. They just love reading it literally and then imposing 18th-century values on a 21st-century nation.

In this case, though, they will be up the proverbial creek without a paddle. Their beloved Constitution guarantees everyone the freedom to practice their religion with no restrictions. But the Florida abortion law is placing a restriction on the practice of the Jewish religion.

The justices could try the old “life begins at conception so a fetus is a person with the same rights as the rest of us” but again, that violates Jewish law which says that life begins at conception, but an unborn baby doesn’t have personhood, only what they refer to as “potential.” Jewish law says that a fetus only attains personhood after it is born.

So which religion is correct? They are mutually exclusive, so neither can be the law of the land.

Of course, we all know that in the end, conservative Christianity will win out. What will be fascinating are the legal contortions the justices will go through to justify making the values of conservative Christianity the standard against which all laws will be measured against.

And once conservative Christianity becomes that standard, will a state religion be far behind?

Will this case see the beginnings of a state religion for the U.S.?