Remember when dozens of state legislatures rushed to ban Sharia law?
From 2010 to 2013, more than 30 states attempted to pass laws that banned the practice of Sharia law. Most of these attempts failed to pass, or were vetoed or overturned by courts, but some of the efforts are still in place. Among the states that have passed Sharia bans are Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Tennessee, North Carolina and Alabama.
We know from arguments by the legislators that these bans were motivated by the fear that a radical religious sect might somehow impose its extreme religious values on an unwilling public. Many of these same states have passed total or near-total bans on abortions despite polls that indicate that large majorities believe that some access to abortions should be permitted. Is this not a case of a religious sect imposing its extreme values on an unwilling public?
After all, permitting some access to abortions does not require anyone to have the procedure. Anyone whose religion prohibits them from terminating a pregnancy is free not to have an abortion. Banning abortions, however, forces everyone to carry their pregnancy to birth, whether or not they share the religious values that motivate the bans. By overturning Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court’s conservative Catholic majority has enabled state legislatures to force their extreme religious values on a public that, because of gerrymandering, does not share those values. We don’t call it Sharia law, but it has the same effect.
Peter Toumanoff
Hancock