They argue that those responsible for the law openly invoked their religious beliefs, thereby imposing their decision on everyone else who did not share that belief. The AP news agency reported on Thursday evening.
“I’m here today because none of our religious views on abortion or anything else should be enshrined in our laws,” one of the plaintiffs, Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, said Thursday in a press conference. According to the attorney handling the case, the law violates the separation of church and state.
Restrictive abortion laws
The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis, is one of many challenging the restrictive abortion laws several conservative states enacted after the Supreme Court ruled Roe vs. Wade, the then landmark abortion law ruling , tipped on June 24, 2022.
As a result, the right to decide on abortion laws has since rested with the individual states. “Roe vs. Wade” came into force in 1973, almost exactly 50 years ago. This made it possible to terminate a pregnancy up to the 24th week.
Since the Supreme Court decision, lawsuits have been filed against a total of 19 states, including several by religious groups, the AP reported. The Missouri lawsuit was filed on behalf of 13 Christian and Jewish religious leaders, including Bishop Deon Johnson of the Episcopal Church. They want an injunction preventing the state from tightening its abortion laws and a declaration that those laws violate the Missouri Constitution.
Up to 15 years imprisonment possible
Immediately after the Supreme Court decision, the state’s governor, Mike Parson, and then-attorney general introduced legislation banning abortions “except for medical emergencies.” This law makes abortion a crime punishable by between five and 15 years in prison — and medical personnel who perform it can also have their license barred.
Missouri previously had one of the most restrictive laws in the country; as a result, abortions have shifted to neighboring states of Illinois and Kansas, the AP report said.
Appeal to “religious endeavour”
The content of the lawsuit on behalf of the religious leaders, behind which the organizations “Americans United for Separation of Church & State” and the “National Women’s Law Center” stand, is the repeated reference to “religious endeavor” and quotes politician Nick Schroer, who said that “as a Catholic, I believe that life begins at conception”. Another Republican politician was quoted as saying he was motivated “from the biblical side.”
At the same time, in the US state of Indiana, the lawyers of five anonymous women, some of whom are Muslim and Jewish, and the Jewish organization “Hoosier Jews for Choice” argue that the state ban violates their faith. This lawsuit draws on the Jewish doctrine that a fetus does not become a living person until it is born, and that also prioritizes the life and health of the mother.
In Kentucky, three Jewish women complained using the same arguments. They accuse the Republican-dominated state of imposing a “sectarian theology” on citizens by banning virtually all abortions.
“March for Life” expected again
Opponents of abortion from all over the United States are expected this Friday in the US capital Washington DC for the 50th “March for Life”, as reported by Kathpress on Friday. The march is still necessary, said Bishop Michael Burbidge, who heads the committee on pro-life activities in the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Legalized abortion is “still a reality in our nation,” Burbidge said.
It is the activists’ first march since the Supreme Court overturned it in June 2022. Seven months after the end of Roe vs. Wade, anti-abortion activists are at odds over how to proceed. Parts of the movement are campaigning for stricter restrictions on abortion, while others intend to expand social safety nets for families.
Survey: Majority for deadline regulation
According to a current Marist survey immediately before the “March for Life”, six out of ten Americans are in favor of women’s voting rights on the abortion issue, as reported by the German Catholic News Agency (KNA). Almost four out of ten respondents described themselves as opposed to abortion.
At the same time, around 70 percent of those questioned spoke out in favor of some kind of deadline regulation, specifically a limitation of abortions to the first three months of pregnancy. This finding is broadly consistent with a 2022 survey conducted prior to the Supreme Court’s June landmark ruling.