{"id":314166,"date":"2024-06-19T10:46:21","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T15:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=314166"},"modified":"2024-06-18T15:36:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T20:36:37","slug":"judge-dismisses-lawsuit-missouri-religious-belief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-missouri-religious-belief\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge dismisses lawsuit that claimed Missouri pro-life law was based on ‘religious beliefs’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A judge in St. Louis, Missouri, has dismissed<\/a> a lawsuit from a group of clergy members who contended that the state’s pro-life protections violate the separation of church and state.<\/p>\n

The 14 clergy members, among them Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion, filed their lawsuit<\/a> last year against the state’s law that protects nearly all preborn children from abortion. In their complaint, the plaintiffs took issue with the portion of the state law that says “life begins at conception,” arguing that through this claim, lawmakers had “weaponized their religious beliefs.” The group had asked for an injunction against the pro-life law due to this claim.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy legislating that life begins at \u2018conception,\u2019 the Missouri legislature dictates a narrowly Christian perspective onto all of Missouri\u2019s diverse faith communities,\u201d the lawsuit claimed.<\/p>\n

In his ruling, St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser<\/a> said that protecting the state’s preborn does not violate any separation of church and state, as it is not based on religion. \u201cWhile the determination that life begins at conception may run counter to some religious beliefs,\u201d he wrote, \u201cit is not itself necessarily a religious belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: A unique human life begins to exist at fertilization, despite claims to the contrary<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Indeed, as Live Action News has previously pointed out, the teaching that life begins at the moment of fertilization<\/a> is a fact firmly rooted in science \u2014 not a religious belief.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Andrew Bailey released a statement<\/a> shortly after Sengheiser’s ruling. \u201cToday is a major win for women and their unborn children as a Missouri court sided with our office yet again in our efforts to defend the sanctity of life,\u201d said Bailey. \u201cMy office will continue to use every tool at its disposal to protect the unborn. Our children are worth the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Americans United for Separation of Church & State and the National Women\u2019s Law Center, who were jointly representing the clergy members, have said they may appeal the decision. \u201cMissouri\u2019s abortion ban is a direct attack on the separation of church and state, religious freedom and reproductive freedom,\u201d they said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cMissouri lawmakers made clear that they were imposing their personal religious beliefs on all Missourians when they enacted these laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A judge in St. Louis, Missouri, has dismissed a lawsuit from a group of clergy members who contended that the state’s pro-life protections violate the separation of church and state. The 14 clergy members, among them Christian, Jewish, and Unitarian Universalist leaders who support abortion, filed their lawsuit last year against the state’s law that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":289925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nJudge dismisses lawsuit that claimed Missouri pro-life law was based on 'religious beliefs'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cWhile the determination that life begins at conception may run counter to some religious beliefs, it is not necessarily a religious belief.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-missouri-religious-belief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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