Rabbi challenges abortion ban on religious grounds

NEW YORK - While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade sparked widespread protests in New York, around the country, and even abroad, Rabbi Barry Silver, a lawyer and the spiritual leader of Congregation L'Dor Ava-Dor in Florida, started preparing a lawsuit to challenge the resulting Florida anti-abortion law. At the heart of his claim is that certain Supreme Court justices are using religion to dictate how all Americans should live their lives.

"A lot of people are getting kind of tired of some self-righteous, arrogant people thinking they can dictate morality to everybody else," the rabbi told FOX 5 News. "It is outrageous. It is wrong. And there's a legal term for it -- it's called 'chutzpah.'"

Silver said the goal of the lawsuit is the show the Supreme Court is dismantling the separation between church and state.

"If you practice Judaism in Florida, you are now a criminal. If I were to tell someone that according to Jewish law, you have an obligation to protect yourself and have an abortion," Silver said. "If she has it, I get arrested and tossed in jail. I'm now a criminal for practicing Judaism."

Legal experts say at least three of the Supreme Court justices testified at their own confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was settled law and that they would not touch it. Yet the new justices moved quickly to do exactly that, prompting calls for their impeachment. 

Experts also say that this lawsuit could mean the Supreme Court is headed for a legal checkmate — if God gets to decide a woman's rights, then whose god gets to decide it?