Lawsuit challenging Indiana abortion ban survives a state challenge

Indiana's Court of Appeals says the state's near total ban on abortion may infringe on the religious freedom of some residents. The ruling released Thursday is tied to a lawsuit challenging the ban and filed by four residents and the group Hoosier Jews for Choice. The three-judge panel agreed with a county judge's previous ruling that residents whose sincerely held religious beliefs may require them to obtain an abortion should be exempt from the ban. The ruling does not have an immediate effect. It may be challenged to the state Supreme Court, which upheld the abortion ban last year in a separate legal challenge.