Missouri judge weighs challenge to near-total abortion ban from religious leaders

A St. Louis judge is weighing whether to toss a lawsuit from more than a dozen progressive faith leaders arguing that Missouri lawmakers imposed their religious beliefs on Missourians when they passed a near-total ban on abortion.

The lawsuit, brought by Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist leaders, seeks a permanent injunction barring the state from enforcing the near-total ban and a declaration that provisions of the law violate the Missouri Constitution on religious freedom grounds. St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Jason Sengheiser heard arguments in the case on Thursday.

“If a law’s predominant purpose is to impose religious beliefs, that is clearly unconstitutional,” said Kalli Joslin, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit is part of a national trend from progressive religious leaders, including in Indiana and Kentucky, who are challenging statewide abortion bans.

Thursday’s hearing centered on a motion by the defendants, which include the state of Missouri, asking Sengheiser to effectively dismiss the case. The dismissal ruling, which will likely come early next year, could have far-reaching impacts on the legality of a 2019 law that triggered a near-total ban on abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

An attorney for the defendants argued that Sengheiser should rule against the lawsuit, saying that lawmakers’ reasoning for voting for a bill does not inherently make a law religious.

Maria Ann Lanahan, the deputy solicitor general in Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office, said the lawsuit’s arguments were “implausible,” stating that the religious leaders were claiming that the only reason a person can be “pro-life is because they’re religious.”

Sengheiser did not immediately rule on the state’s motion to issue a ruling in the case, saying he would likely issue an order in January.

The lawsuit, filed in St. Louis Circuit Court in January, argues the abortion ban forces lawmakers’ religious beliefs on Missourians and violates the separation of church and state. It was filed on behalf of 14 religious leaders from various Christian, Jewish and Unitarian Universalist denominations.

The suit highlights a slew of Missouri lawmakers who made religious comments in favor of enacting the ban in 2019, including state Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, Sikeston Republican who was then a member of the Missouri House at the time.

“I do truly understand the many, difficult choices that have been talked about today, but to me, God doesn’t give us a choice in this area. He is the creator of life. And I, being made in his image and likeness, don’t get to choose to take that away, no matter how that child came to be,” Rehder said on the House floor in 2019. “To me, life begins at conception, and my God doesn’t give that option.”

Traci Blackmon, the associate general minister of justice and local church ministries at the United Church of Christ and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in an emailed statement that the ban on abortion was “an unconscionable abuse of religion to oppress all Missourians.”

“Legislators do not have the right to impose their faith on me or anyone else,” she said.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican who has supported the state’s abortion ban, told reporters in January that the lawsuit was “foolish.”

“We were acting on the belief that life is precious and should be treated as such,” he said, referring to the abortion ban. “I don’t think that’s a religious belief. I think people need to understand what separation of church and state is.”

Thursday’s hearing comes as abortion rights supporters in Missouri are seeking to restore the right to an abortion by getting a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2024. Many have been energized by victories for abortion rights in surrounding states.

Voters in Ohio this month overwhelmingly approved a measure that protects the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution.