Indiana Judge Rules There’s a Religious Right to Kill Babies in Abortions

In Indiana, a Marion County Superior Court judge issued a permanent injunction March 5 blocking enforcement of Indiana’s abortion ban on the outrageous claim that there is a so-called religious right to kill babies in abortions.

The judge blocked the ban for a certified class of people who claim killing a baby in an abortion is an exercise of their religious beliefs.

The ruling is prompting sharp criticism from pro-life advocates, who called the decision a perversion of religious freedom protections.

Judge Christina R. Klineman ruled that the state’s 2022 abortion law violates Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act by substantially burdening the religious exercise of the plaintiffs. The class includes members of Hoosier Jews for Choice and others whose beliefs hold that a woman’s mental or physical health takes precedence over the right to life of an unborn child. Never mind that abortions have been linked for decades to depression, suicide and adverse mental health problems.

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“The state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars a law that substantially interferes with class members’ religious beliefs that a pregnant person’s mental or physical health takes precedence over that of a zygote, embryo, or fetus,” Klineman wrote.

The state did not show it had a compelling interest justifying protecting babies from certain death, she claimed.

The judge further stated: “The abortion law would allow a plaintiff to seek an abortion if her pregnancy were the result of rape, but not if it were mandated by her religious beliefs. The state has not justified this differential treatment by establishing that its interest in the same prenatal life changes based upon the reason for terminating a pregnancy.”

Klineman rejected the state’s argument that the law does not burden religious exercise because it penalizes only abortionists, not the women seeking abortions.

“Penalizing providers to avoid the violation of RFRA is an untenable end-run around the conflict in these laws,” she wrote.

She added: “The court finds that there is significant public interest in ensuring the religious freedom of all citizens and the state’s position that religious freedom is somehow less important than other exceptions in the abortion law puts the court in an untenable position and finds a permanent injunction the only proper relief.”

The narrow injunction the leftist judge instituted applies only where abortion is a necessary exercise of religious beliefs not covered by the law’s exceptions for lethal fetal anomalies, rape or incest, or serious health risks to the mother. The law generally prohibits abortions outside those very rare exceptions and imposes penalties on abortionists for killing babies.

Indiana Right to Life President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Fichter issued this statement today on the ruling.

“For the court to rule that taking the life of an unborn child is an exercise of religious freedom is deeply distressing—and a perversion of the law’s intent.“ Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act was never intended to equate taking the life of an unborn child with religious expression in our state. While this current injunction is limited to the plaintiffs in the case only, if it withstands challenge, it will be exploited so anyone claiming a spiritual belief, even if personal and non-theistic, can justify taking a child’s life.

“We are encouraged by Attorney General Todd Rokita’s immediate move to appeal this injunction and pray it will be stayed during the appeal process.“Indiana Right to Life will continue in its work to make Indiana a model state in providing compassionate support for pregnant moms and protections for their unborn babies.”

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