Judge rejects religious leaders’ challenge of Missouri abortion ban

A Missouri judge has rejected the argument that lawmakers intended to “impose their religious beliefs on everyone” in the state when they passed a restrictive abortion ban.

Judge Jason Sengheiser issued the ruling Friday in a case filed by more than a dozen Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion rights. They sought a permanent injunction last year barring Missouri from enforcing its abortion law and a declaration that provisions violate the Missouri Constitution.

One section of the statute that was at issue reads: “In recognition that Almighty God is the author of life, that all men and women are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,’ that among those are Life.’”

Sengheiser noted that there is similar language in the preamble to the Missouri Constitution, which expresses “profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.” And he added that the rest of the remaining challenged provisions contain no explicit religious language.

“While the determination that life begins at conception may run counter to some religious beliefs, it is not itself necessarily a religious belief,” Sengheiser wrote. “As such, it does not prevent all men and women from worshipping Almighty God or not worshipping according to the dictates of their own consciences.”

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