Satanic Temple challenges abortion bans in Idaho and Indiana

The Satanic Temple is suing Indiana and Idaho in federal court over the states’ abortion laws, arguing that bans on the practice violate their members’ religious rights. 

Indiana was one of the first states to pass a ban on abortion in August after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. 

The Satanic Temple – which is based in Salem, Massachusetts, but claims more than 1.5 million members worldwide – wrote that its 11,300 members in Indiana are “unable to engage in the Satanic Abortion Ritual due to the criminalization of abortions” in the state, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by FOX59. 

The group specifically cited its third tenant, which states that “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” as well as its fifth tenant, which says that “beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world.”

The Satanic Temple filed its lawsuit in Indiana last Monday, then filed a similar lawsuit in Idaho on Friday. 

NEWSOM MOVES TO MAKE CALIFORNIA A SANCTUARY STATE FOR ABORTIONS

Before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Satanic Temple also filed a lawsuit in Texas to block that state’s abortion ban. 

“All we are asking for is the ability to exercise our right to religious liberty by participating in a ritual as part of our religion, free from government overreach,” Satanic Temple Director of Campaign Operations Erin Helian said at the time. 

Several other groups are challenging abortion bans in Indiana, Idaho, and other Republican-led states. 

A judge blocked Indiana’s abortion ban from being enforced last month after the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit on behalf of abortion clinic operators, arguing that the law violates the state’s constitution.