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Freedom Act

Continued from Page 11

a broad coalition of religious
and civil liberties groups
quickly formed around the
Religious Freedom Restora-
tion Act.
But that coalition — which
included representatives of
numerous other religious
groups, as well as Jews from
across the spectrum — was
endangered last year, when
representatives of the
Catholic Church brought up
the abortion question.
The Catholics were con-
cerned that women might be
able to bring actions under
the bill, claiming that their
religious beliefs mandated
abortion under certain cir-
cumstances.
Early efforts to brand the
bill an "abortion bill" —and
to knock Evangelical Chris-
tian groups out of the coali-
tion — failed.
But last fall, Rep. Chris
Smith, R-N.J., introduced an
alternative measure — the
confusingly named Religious
Freedom Act, minus the
"Restoration" — that incor-
porated the basic concerns of
the Catholics, including pro-
visions that would prevent
challenges of the church's
tax exempt status.
For most Jewish groups,
Rep. Smith's bill is not an
acceptable alternative.
"It's almost as if they
stuck in this bill to under-
mine the other legislation,"
said the OU's William Rap-
fogel. "Frankly, that's a big
part of the objection to the
Smith bill."
Others have argued that
the Smith bill could have the
effect of limiting religious
freedom.
Those kinds of arguments
posed an agonizing problem
for Agudath Israel of
America, an early supporter
of the original religious lib-
erties bill.
"We are an organization
that has been a longstanding
opponent to abortion on de-
mand," said Abba Cohen,
the group's Washington
representative. "So we had a
dilemma: do we support
Smith or Solarz? "
The question was sub-
mitted to the group's Coun-
cil of Torah Sages, who
decided against the Smith
alternative.
"A Jewish woman who
finds herself in the unfor-
tunate circumstance where
Jewish law mandates that
she end the pregnancy is
confronting an issue of faith
and religious practice," Mr.
Cohen said, "and she should
be able to bring a claim bas-
ed on religious freedom."
The Smith bill, he said,
would forbid women to go to
court.

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

13

