ST. LOUIS — A high-profile prosecuting attorney is suing the state of Missouri over its abortion law. The move is playing out as part of another lawsuit brought by faith leaders in St. Louis.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker filed a petition a few months ago.
The long-time Democratic prosecutor's jurisdiction includes most of Kansas City, but on Wednesday, her lawyers were in St. Louis Circuit Court as the legal battle over abortion rights in Missouri continues.
"Your honor, in August of 2019, the Missouri General Assembly passed some of the most extreme abortion restrictions in the country," Attorney Amanda Langenheim, representing Peters Baker, said.
Inside the Carnahan Courthouse Wednesday morning, a high-profile prosecuting attorney joined the legal fight in Missouri's abortion case.
Michele Henry, American's United for Separation of Church & State counsel, was one of the couple of people in the crowd.
"We're not involved in today's hearing, but we wanted to come to make sure that the court was aware that we are invested in this argument and that we commend Jackson County prosecutor for being here today and for protecting the rule of law and access to abortion," she said.
As someone who is tasked with enforcing criminal laws of the state, Baker is concerned about how prosecutors are supposed to interpret the abortion ban.
Baker's lawsuit comes on the heels of another one brought by more than a dozen religious leaders in St. Louis back in January.
Henry is one of the attorneys representing the seven different faith communities in their case.
"We are bringing different claims, but we support her efforts," she said.
According to Henry, they believe the ban on abortion violates the separation of church and state that is protected in Missouri's Constitution.
"We believe that everyone should have the right to make health care decisions that are appropriate to their faith beliefs," she said.
As for what the state argued Wednesday, Solicitor General Joshua Divine, said Baker's confusion about the law doesn't create a legitimate case.
"You can't just sue because you don't like the abortion laws that are on the books. You have to have an actual injury. You have to be asserting some of these rights and she conceded today that she's not asserting anybody's right. She's not asserting her own. She's not asserting the rights of anybody in Jackson County. All of this is completely improper," he said.
Even though no decision was met, and the court only took about an hour, Divine said Wednesday's hearing about Baker's lawsuit only slowed down the legal process, as a whole.
"This is really silly, the idea that you can't have statutes on the books simply because some religious people agree with them. You wouldn't be able to have murder laws, you couldn't have theft laws, you couldn't have any laws at that point. That's a recipe for anarchy, so I'm really confident in our ability to actually win this lawsuit in the end. I'd like for us to be able to speed this up," he said.
One of Baker's other big concerns with the ban is whether or not women could potentially be charged with crimes in the state for having an abortion.
As for the original lawsuit brought forward by faith leaders, lawyers just started the discovery process. No trial date has been set yet.