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.
Screenshot from Satanic Temple website
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.”
The Details:
After appealing, the Ninth Circuit Court upheld Nye’s decision, with U.S. Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown — who was appointed by Bill Clinton — plainly pointing out that the Satanic Temple had no standing to sue to begin with.
“TST, whose sole telehealth abortion clinic is in New Mexico, had not shown that one of its members has suffered or will imminently suffer an injury given that TST has no patients in Idaho, no doctors who are licensed to treat Idaho patients, and identified no Idaho citizen who sought an abortion from the organization,” she wrote. “The panel held that TST had not met its burden to show organizational standing. TST’s argument that it diverted resources to open its New Mexico clinic to provide abortions in response to Idaho’s and other states’ abortion bans was insufficient to establish standing. The panel rejected TST’s argument that its mission to promote abortions was frustrated by Idaho’s law.”
The Bottom Line:
Attorney General Raúl Labrador celebrated the ruling in a statement, saying he will always protect preborn lives in Idaho.
“I will always defend Idaho’s laws that protect families and preserve the sanctity of life,” he said. “The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals correctly found that the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge Idaho’s laws protecting mothers and their unborn children. This victory ensures that Idaho may continue to enforce our pro-life and pro-family protections.”
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