Court dismisses Satanic Temple lawsuit against Indiana pro-life law

A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit from the Satanic Temple challenging Indiana's law that protects most preborn children from abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Satanic Temple seeking to overturn Indiana's pro-life protections.

• The court said the Satanic Temple had failed to prove that any member had been injured by the laws.

• The Satanic Temple has also unsuccessfully sued Idaho, Texas, and Missouri.

The Backstory:

In 2022, the Satanic Temple filed lawsuits against pro-life laws in both Indiana and Idaho. Indiana law protects most preborn children from abortion, with exceptions for the mother's life or health, rape or incest, and when the child has a life-limiting diagnosis.

The Satanic Temple claimed that Indiana's laws violate religious freedom, as the Satanic Temple believes abortion itself is a “ritual” and a "religious" rite. It also claimed that abortion is a "religious" issue, not a political one.

In 2023, an Indiana judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the Satanic Temple had no standing to sue against the state's law, noting, "(The Satanic Temple) operates no ‘licensed… abortion clinic in Indiana,’ employs no ‘physicians who are licensed to practice medicine in Indiana’ and provides no ‘in-person services to patients’ in Indiana.” The Satanic Temple then appealed that ruling to the federal court.

The Details:

On January 7, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit unanimously upheld the lower judge's 2023 ruling on the basis that the Satanic Temple was unable to provide any evidence that the state's pro-life law was harming Indiana residents. "In sum, the Satanic Temple has not pointed to any member, through its constitutionally questionable statistical probability method or otherwise, who is in fact injured," the opinion read.

According to Courthouse News Service, the group had alleged "stigmatic" injury because "all of its members deal with the stigma of being perceived as evil people because they are pro-abortion."

The three judge panel found that argument unconvincing.

“Other than merely saying so, the Satanic Temple provides no evidence that its members have actually suffered stigmatic injury," read the final opinion, authored by U.S. Circuit Judge Doris Pryor. "As we have noted, ‘generalized harm to a group of individual members will not’ support ‘associational standing.’”

The decision marks the latest court decision dismissing a Satanic Temple lawsuit challenging pro-life laws. In November, a federal judge similarly dismissed the group's challenge against Idaho. The Satanic Temple also unsuccessfully sued Texas and Missouri over their pro-life laws.

The Bottom Line:

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita issued a press release praising the court's ruling.

“This lawsuit was ridiculous from the start, but this unanimous court decision is a critical victory because it continues to uphold our pro-life law that is constitutionally and legally rock-solid,” he said. “Our state has proudly built a strong culture of life, and no satanic cult — or any extremist group — is going to stop us.”