The Satanic Temple is at it again and this time they’re attacking anti-abortion laws.
The Temple is suing the states of Indiana and Idaho after strict abortion bans went into effect in both states in recent months following the overturn of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court in June.
Often confused with the Church of Satan, which it disavows, the Satanic Temple is an organization which does not believe in the Christian Satan but rather “the allegorical Satan described in the epic poem Paradise Lost—the defender of personal sovereignty against the dictates of religious authority.”
The “Satanic Abortion Ritual” created in 2020 makes support for people who obtain abortions the third of the Temple’s seven religious tenets.
As they describe it on their website:
“The Satanic abortion ritual provides spiritual comfort and affirms bodily autonomy, self-worth, and freedom from coercive forces with the affirmation of TST’s Seven Tenets.”
“The ritual is not intended to convince a person to have an abortion.”
“Instead, it sanctifies the abortion process by instilling confidence and protecting bodily rights when undergoing the safe and scientific procedure.”
In its lawsuits, the Temple argues Indiana’s and Idaho’s bans violate these religious rights by denying an “involuntarily pregnant woman” the right to engage in the “Satanic Abortion Ritual.”
More from Fox News:
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 tenet, which states that “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” as well as its fifth tenet, 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.
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.
