Satanic Temple Loses Lawsuit Challenging Indiana Abortion Ban
The Satanic Temple has lost its lawsuit against Indiana that challenged the state’s abortion ban.
The organization claims that bans violate their members’ right to “religious freedom” of performing “abortion rituals.”
The Indiana lawsuit was filed in September 2022, claiming that the state’s near-total ban violates the U.S. Constitution and the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
According to a report from the IndyStar, “Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita called the lawsuit ‘ridiculous’ in a statement Thursday. He said the win ‘sustains a pro-life law that is constitutionally and legally sound.’”
“We Hoosiers continue to build a solid culture of life whether satanic cultists like it or not,” Rokita added.
The report adds, “The Satanic Temple launched a telehealth clinic in late 2022 out of New Mexico — called ‘Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic’ — but it was never demonstrated that the clinic served its members in Indiana, according to U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana Jane Magnus-Stinson’s decision Wednesday.”
Magnus-Stinson wrote in the ruling that the Satanic Temple “failed to demonstrate that its alleged cost of compliance or threat of prosecution amounts to injury.”
“The Satanic Temple had an opportunity to submit evidence,” but it “failed on all fronts,” the judge continued.
The Satanic Temple has not announced whether or not they will appeal the ruling.
According to reports, the organization has over 11,300 members in Indiana.
The temple previously attempted to use religious freedom laws to fight abortion restrictions in Missouri and Texas, but those have also failed.