“Freedom to Kill”? Law review article dismantles religious freedom arguments for abortion
A recently published law review article by Harvard Law student Lindsay Gabow thoroughly dismantles the argument that Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs) should override abortion laws.
Secular Pro-Life has made similar arguments for a popular audience. We’re proud that our work helped shape the article. Gabow credits SPL’s legal volunteers with inspiring two of her key arguments, and she quotes our March 2026 post on the Indiana ruling.
But Gabow’s article goes much deeper, and she presents the case to the legal academy, appellate litigators, and lawmakers. Those are exactly the people we must reach to effectively protect prenatal children from faith-based violence.
Gabow’s article focuses on an Indiana lawsuit brought by a class of anonymous plaintiffs who claim that abortion is, for them, a sincere exercise of religion. The case is not over, but the plaintiffs have obtained preliminary rulings in their favor. Gabow makes a compelling four-point argument that those rulings were wrong:
- The court ignored key evidence of Indiana’s compelling interest in prenatal human life, including its informed consent and feticide legislation, and instead “substitut[ed] its own social and economic beliefs for the judgment of legislative bodies” in violation of Dobbs;
- The court incorrectly treated the abortion law’s narrow fatal fetal anomaly and rape exceptions as an admission that Indiana lacks a compelling interest in human life and failed to analogize those exceptions to Indiana’s postnatal homicide defenses;
- The court misapplied Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, 546 U.S. 418 (2006), which is readily distinguishable from the Indiana abortion case; and
- The court failed to address the wide-ranging potential consequences of its rulings, which Gabow warns could promote legal human sacrifice, force state legislators to accept all-or-nothing abortion laws without compromise, and undermine public support for RFRA.
You can read the full article here free of charge. I predict it will be an incredibly valuable resource for pro-life attorneys facing similar legal challenges nationwide.
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