Government · Statewide · IN · September 9, 2026
Indiana Supreme Court to Rule if Religion Can Exempt Abortion Ban
On Sept. 10, the Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a first-of-its-kind case testing whether religious belief can exempt individuals from a state abortion ban, according to Bloomberg Law News. Hoosier Jews for Choice and two Jewish women, represented by the ACLU of Indiana, argue Indiana's near-total abortion ban substantially burdens their exercise of Judaism, which they say permits and sometimes requires abortion, violating the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Lower courts already blocked enforcement against the plaintiffs; the state, represented by Attorney General Todd Rokita's office, is appealing on procedural and merits grounds, arguing it has a compelling interest in protecting life beginning at conception. Legal scholars are divided: some, like UVA's Micah Schwartzman, say the ban's existing exceptions (life, health, rape, incest, IVF embryo destruction) undermine the state's claimed compelling interest. Others, including First Liberty Institute's Hiram Sasser and Notre Dame's Richard Garnett, argue no religious exemption should override a law protecting human life, warning the case could broadly weaken RFRA protections nationwide. No ruling has been issued.
Source: Bloomberg Law News
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Why Bible-Believing Christians Should Care
Indiana's abortion ban rests on the biblical conviction that human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection — a conviction this case seeks to override by invoking religious liberty law itself. If a state court grants a religious exemption to end a life the state elsewhere protects, it sets a precedent that could spread through every state with an RFRA-style statute, turning a tool meant to shield conscience into a mechanism for undoing pro-life law. Christians should recognize that religious liberty, rightly understood, was never meant to compel states to permit the taking of innocent life. This case will shape how far 'religious exemption' arguments can be stretched against laws grounded in the sanctity of human life.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. — Psalm 139:13
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From the book
The primary weapon here is the weaponization of civil rights language. Activists hold the government to its stated commitment to equal protection, then redefine equality, meaning equal treatment under law, as equity, meaning equal outcomes. By holding the agency to the new definition they turn the machinery of justice into an engine of social engineering.
— Chapter 20, “The Anatomy of Capture”
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