Judge dismisses Satanic Temple’s attempt to overturn Indiana’s pro-life law

Last year, the Satanic Temple filed lawsuits against both Indiana and Idaho, attempting to have the states’ pro-life laws overturned by claiming they violate the organization’s “religious right” to abortion. In Indiana, a judge has now dismissed that lawsuit.

Indiana law protects most preborn children from abortion with exceptions for the life or health of the mother, rape or incest, and when the child is expected to die during pregnancy or at birth. Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled that the Satanic Temple has no standing to challenge the law, but did not weigh in on the notion of religious freedom. “(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,” she said in her ruling, adding that it likewise “‘does not presently intend’ to seek a license for an abortion clinic in Indiana.”

Magnus-Stinson also pointed out that the Satanic Temple did not demonstrate that any of its members were harmed by Indiana’s law. “The Satanic Temple had an opportunity to submit evidence,” but it “failed on all fronts,” she said.

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Other attempts by the Satanic Temple have repeatedly failed to overturn pro-life laws, including earlier this summer, when a Texas lawsuit filed by the pro-abortion group was dismissed for similar reasons. Texas Judge Charles Eskridge called the lawsuit’s claims “spare and unusually cryptic,” and criticized the Satanic Temple for not explaining its “religious statutes” or the “ritual” that requires abortion.

“Instead, their broad and conclusory allegations are devoid of actual facts, at most offering ‘labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action,’” he wrote in his ruling, adding, “Given the detail of the prior complaints and these substantial changes in the law, the deficiencies in the operative complaint are no doubt intentional.”

In a statement, Attorney General Todd Rokita celebrated the ruling. “This lawsuit was ridiculous on its face, but this court decision is important because it sustains a pro-life law that is constitutionally and legally sound,” he said. “We Hoosiers continue to build a solid culture of life whether satanic cultists like it or not.”