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Missouri Faith Leaders File Suit Over State’s Abortion Ban | St. Louis Metro News | St. Louis

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click to enlarge Courtesy Americans United for Separation of Church and State Reverend Traci Blackmon of the United Church of Christ is one of 13 plaintiffs on a suit filed against Missouri’s strict abortion ban today.

Clergy from various faiths filed a lawsuit in the St. Louis Circuit Court today arguing that Missourians have a right to exercise their freedom of religion — which includes abortion.

The lawsuit is a slap against the Missouri legislature’s overall “explicit preference” for some religious beliefs about abortion over others. If successful, the suit would require a judge to issue a permanent injunction on Missouri’s abortion ban.

The suit’s 13 plaintiffs are essentially arguing that each Missourian has a right to decide for themselves what they believe and practice. Just because most Missouri legislators interpret their religions as against abortion (or see it politically expedient to say as such), that doesn’t mean they can force their religion into law.

“Legislators imposed their preferred religious doctrine on everyone, forcing the citizens and taxpayers of this state to fund the establishment of that doctrine and to obey it regardless of their own faith and beliefs, and irrespective of the resulting grave harms to those seeking abortion care,” the lawsuit reads. 

Missouri’s trigger law banned abortions with no exception for rape or incest after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade last June. Anyone who knowingly performs or induces an abortion risks prosecution of a class B felony. Medical providers found guilty of doing so could lose their licenses.

DANNY WICENTOWSKI Remember when you could get abortions at Central West End Planned Parenthood?

Today, the 13 faith leader plaintiffs stated this law is an egregious violation of their religious rights. The plaintiffs follow a variety of religions and mostly lead congregations in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.

“Missouri abortion bans contradict, devalue and disrespect my religious beliefs that the life and health of a pregnant person take precedence over a fetus,” Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, executive director of Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis said in a statement.

Reverend Traci Blackmon, associate general minister of justice and local church ministries for the United Church of Christ, said her God is a “God of choice.” 

“In the United Church of Christ, we believe that God intended people to have autonomy over their lives and bodies, and to have authority to make complex decisions, including whether to have an abortion,” Blackmon continued.

To further prove their point, the plaintiffs sent videos to the press of legislators clearly stating their religious biases. 

“As a Catholic, I do believe life begins at conception,” Representative Nick Schroer (R-St. Charles County) said in one clip. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, from the one-cell stage at the moment of conception you are already there, we just couldn’t see you yet,” Representative Ben Baker (R-Newton County) said in another clip. “What makes you valuable is that you equally share the image of our creator … ”

This wouldn’t be the first time pro-choice religious leaders have taken legal action to oppose Missouri’s abortion law. 

The Satanic Temple tried to file suit against Missouri last year, but the Eighth Circuit Court refused to consider its arguments. The religious organization based in Salem, Massachusetts tried to argue Missouri’s abortion ban violated one of its member’s right to religious freedom.

Maybe the courts will listen this time.

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Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate

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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword. 

Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate. 

The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault. 

The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade. 

This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.

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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy

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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection. 

“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”

He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”

The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”

Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”

The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.

Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”

In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery. 

“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.” 

Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”

Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings. 

“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.

Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)

One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said. 

Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.

“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”

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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades

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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.

The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release. 

The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.

The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.

To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/

“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”

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