(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Legal scholar Kelsey Hazzard, founder and president of the group Secular Pro-Life, revealed an inconsistency following recent changes to abortion law in Indiana that might, in theory, be used by all murderers in the state to avoid criminal conviction, according to the group’s website.
In its zeal to support abortion, an Indiana court accidentally legalized homicide😳
I realize what a bold claim that is, but I have the evidence. Buckle up. 1/https://t.co/ka8cSikIO8
— Secular Pro-Life (@secularprolife) April 9, 2024
Recently, pro-abortion activists filed challenge to Indiana’s abortion law under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
The federal government and several states have allowed people to make RFRA challenges in order to obtain religious exemptions for generally applied laws.
Pro-abortion activists have used these laws, claiming that some religions support abortion and, therefore, people who practice those religions should be able to obtain an exemption.
Although some mainstream religions are more open to accepting it than others, a search by Headline USA revealed only one such “religion” that claimed to actively incorporated abortion into its rituals and ceremonies, the Satanic Temple.
“Our members hold a sincere religious belief that they can and should have an abortion,” W. James Mac Naughton, the attorney representing the Satanic Temple, told the Associated Press in 2022, after the group filed lawsuits against Indiana and other states.
However, much of its literature and marketing suggestst that the Satanists are, in fact, using their so-called religious beliefs simply to demand a loophole in existing laws that it encourages anyone to take advantage of by providing template letters for practices such as fetal burial and disposal.
RFRA exemptions do not apply in cases of “compelling interest” in the law.
For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses attempted to file lawsuits to avoid giving life-saving blood transfusions to their children, as they believe doing so willingly and without regret is a sin. The lawsuits failed, however, because the lives of children were at stake.
Despite the fact that pro-life laws likewise protect the lives of children, Indiana’s Court of Appeals put the state’s near-total ban on the practice on hold as leftists argued that abortion is integral to practicing particular religions.
“The State does not explain why a victim of rape or incest is entitled to an abortion, but women who’s sincere religious beliefs direct and abortion are not,” the opinion read.
“The State also does not explain how allowing an abortion of a ‘fetus diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly’—as is conditionally permitted by the Abortion Law—advances the State’s alleged compelling interest in protecting potential life,” it added.
However, as Hazzard noted, the state of Indiana also made similar exceptions for homicide rulings.
Indiana criminal codes allows for reasonable belief that “force is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury to the person or a third person for the commission of a forcible felony.”
Because the state had “legislated at least two exceptions to its homicide law, Indiana does not have a compelling interest in enforcing that law against religiosity motivated murderers,” Hazzard argued, applying the rationale of the appellate court judges.
“Let the legal human sacrifices and honor killings begin!” she added.
Blogger Robin Atkins, a licensed medical health counselor, pointed out hat this concern had arisen previously during the legislative debate over the abortion law.
“Honestly this was something brought up during the Special Session,” Atkins tweeted.
“When you allow exceptions for emotional reasons, you are opening the door for a whole lot of valid argument about why not other non-medical reasons,” she continued. “I don’t agree with them that religion overrides a right to life, but they make a valid point on the exceptions situation.”
Honestly, this was something brought up during the Special Session. When you allow for exceptions for emotional reasons, you are opening the door for a whole lot of valid argument about why not other non-medical reasons. I don't agree with them that religion overrides a right to…
— Robin Atkins (@TruthAgape) April 9, 2024
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
