Jewish women cite faith in contesting Kentucky abortion ban

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's sweeping abortion ban was challenged Thursday by three Jewish women who brought a lawsuit arguing that it violates their religious rights under the state's constitution.

The legal challenge, filed in state court in Louisville, says the state's Republican-dominated legislature “imposed sectarian theology” by prohibiting nearly all abortions. The lawsuit bears similarities to legal challenges to abortion bans in at least two other states.

“Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs have been infringed: they are Jewish and Jewish law (“halakha”) asked and answered the question of fetal personhood thousands of years ago and rabbis, commentators and Jewish legal scholars have repeatedly confirmed these answers in the intervening millenia," the Kentucky lawsuit reads. “While a fetus is deserving of some level of respect under halakha, the birth giver takes precedence. Jews have never believed that life begins at conception.”

Kentucky's Republican attorney general, Daniel Cameron, signaled he will fight the lawsuit, which names him as a defendant. Cameron has defended the state's abortions restrictions in various courts, touting his anti-abortion stance in his campaign for governor. The gubernatorial election will be in 2023.

“The General Assembly has made it clear that Kentucky will protect unborn life and these laws are an important part of the commonwealth,” Cameron said Thursday in a statement.

It's the latest attempt to strike down Kentucky's far-reaching abortion prohibitions, but the newest suit offers another legal twist by basing the challenge on religious grounds.

Kentucky's Supreme Court has set a November hearing in another case challenging the abortion restrictions. The high court allowed the near-total ban to remain in place while it...