Claimed law limiting abortion violated the ‘religious’ rights of members
By Cassy Cooke, Live Action News
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a dismissal of a lawsuit by the Satanic Temple, which was seeking to overturn Idaho’s laws protecting preborn children from abortion.
Key Takeaways:
- In 2022, the Satanic Temple sued the state of Idaho, claiming its pro-life laws violated its members’ religious freedom.
- The Satanic Temple claims abortion is a sacred “ritual.”
- A judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, and the Satanic Temple appealed.
- An appeals court ruled that the Satanic Temple does not have standing to sue, and that the dismissal would not be overturned.
The Backstory:
In its original 2022 lawsuit, the Satanic Temple sued both Indiana and Idaho, claiming to have 11,300 members in Indiana and 3,500 in Idaho. The group claimed the states’ pro-life laws were violations of the group’s religious freedom, as the Satanic Temple believes abortion is a “ritual” and a ‘religious’ rite; additionally, as satanists worship the notion of bodily autonomy, abortion is therefore allegedly a ‘religious’ issue for them.
The group’s Third Tenet states that “[o]ne’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” which they use as a religious justification for abortion.
“(The Satanic Temple) venerates, but does not worship, the allegorical Satan described in the epic poem Paradise Lost — the defender of personal sovereignty against the dictates of religious authority,” the lawsuits said, adding, “All of the Involuntarily Pregnant Women who are TST members believe the fetal tissue they carry in their uterus – from conception until viability — is part of their body and not imbued with any humanity or existence separate and apart from that of the Involuntarily Pregnant Woman herself.”
All a member must do to perform the so-called “religious rite” of abortion is to recite a series of affirmations in front of a mirror while chemically aborting a child.
Still, the lawsuit was dismissed in February of 2024 by Chief U.S. District Court Judge David C. Nye, saying that their claims “while interesting, are convoluted and do not lead to the desired result.”