Friend:

Reproductive freedom is religious freedom. AU has been arguing this for years. But if you’re skeptical about the claim that abortion and reproductive health care are church-state separation issues, Indiana legislators offered up some substantial evidence when they passed into law the first abortion ban since the Supreme Court abolished the constitutional right to abortion in June.

“We’re standing up for what we believe our Lord and savior wants us to do, to value all life,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Gaskill during debate on the bill. “I’m up here today to represent Jesus. I love Jesus more than I love being in the Senate.”

Rep. John Jacob condemned fellow Republicans for including exemptions in the bill that may allow abortions in instances of rape, incest or to protect the health of the mother: “I invite you to repent before God and trust Christ for forgiveness.” He voted against the near-total abortion ban because, he said, “I promised that when I came here that I was going to do everything within my power, and for God to help me, to not compromise.”

State Rep. John L. Bartlett tried to use abortion opponents’ faith-based arguments against them when he proposed an unsuccessful amendment that would have banned erectile dysfunction drugs: "If, in fact, an unwanted pregnancy is an act of God, then impotence is an act of God. I think the onus should be put on men for these pregnancies."

Just three days after Kansans voted overwhelmingly to keep abortion protections in their state’s constitution, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed his state’s abortion ban into law over a multitude of objections, including that it violated church-state separation. He ignored a coalition of nearly 400 multi-faith clergy, who argued: “Indiana should not privilege one particular Christian belief above other religious beliefs by codifying [the belief that life begins at conception] into law. To do so violates the separation of church and state and robs other people of faith—who understand conception, reproduction, pregnancy, and autonomy differently—of the freedom to make these decisions in accordance with their core religious beliefs.”

Religious freedom demands the right to an abortion so people can make their own reproductive decisions according to their own principles. That’s why, with your support, Americans United is readying religious freedom litigation that will bring this argument to our courts. Abortion bans undermine religious freedom by imposing one religious viewpoint on us all. That violates the separation of church and state. AU will not let these violations go unchallenged.

Warmest regards,

Andrew L. Seidel
VP of Strategic Communications