Arguments for religious freedom support spate of challenges to abortion bans

After she got the medication, the process took a different turn. Via Zoom, a pastor urged Mikayla to look in the mirror to reflect on self-empowerment and recite, “A man’s body is inviolable, subject only to his own will.” After taking the first pill in the two-drug regimen, Mikayla recited a teaching about prioritizing science. The minister advised that after the pregnancy tissue was finally removed, Mikayla could recite: “By my body, my blood. It is done by my will.”

Legal experts said some religious freedom lawsuits demanding abortion rights could succeed, given recent Supreme Court rulings that “supported religious exemptions even in cases where there are really serious health and safety issues,” said Elizabeth Reiner Platt, director of the the Law, Rights and Religion Project at Columbia University. Arguments for exemptions can also be compelling, as most abortion bans have some exceptions, such as rape, experts said.

“These should be very strong, compelling cases, but I also recognize that this is a very political issue,” Ms Platt said.

Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston who has criticized the lawsuits, questioned the legal standing of the plaintiffs, saying, “Many of these women claim that one day I might be pregnant and on one day i could have this problem and for that i might have to have an abortion.

He said some claimants might have religiously sincere “mitigating individual circumstances” but that allowing widespread waivers could undermine the law’s larger purpose.

Whichever way courts decide, it could be groundbreaking.

“We’re in a whole new landscape,” Ms Platt said.

Adriana Malcolm contributed reporting from Albuquerque.