First Amendment Solution to Anti-Abortion Laws

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." The Supreme Court, in numerous cases, has held that government cannot require or support activities in furtherance of specific religious beliefs, i.e., prayer in schools or certain denominational exhibits. These court decisions have not specified a particular church organization. The idea that abortion of a fetus is an act of murder is based on a religious belief espoused by various Christian denominations and possibly other non-Christian religions of which I am unaware. Some Christian and other religions hold the belief that the term "unborn child" is an oxymoron, that a human being does not exist until a live birth occurs. For Congress to pass a law concerning abortion that says otherwise or is based on a religious belief that gives human status to a fetus, in my opinion, respects an establishment of religion. Further, if a woman is required under penalty of law to submit her body to the dictates of a law that opposes her personal religious beliefs concerning abortion or other reproductive issue, the Congress has prohibited this woman the free exercise of her religion. Any effort by the court to uphold laws regulating abortion is likewise a violation of the First Amendment. Not only does the Congress need to stop intruding one personal liberties, so also do the courts when they give Congress leeway to enact laws that regulate abortion beyond what is necessary to insure safe medical practices. Since state constitutions also have provisions similar to the First Amendment, the same reasoning applies to their legislatures to place strictures on abortion.