Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Oct 27, 2023 / 10:40 am
The Satanic Temple lost a lawsuit against a major pro-life law in Indiana this week after a judge threw the case out for lack of standing.
The Satanic Temple (TST) had filed a lawsuit in 2022 against Indiana’s Gov. Eric Holcomb and state Attorney General Todd Rokita, challenging the state’s sweeping pro-life law that year that largely outlawed abortion except in narrow circumstances.
The group had claimed that the state’s ban violated constitutional law as well as state religious freedom law. Their suit argued that abortions constitute an “exercise of their religious beliefs” and that the pro-life law thus infringed on that right.
The Satanic Temple, while employing satanic imagery, states on its website that it does not believe in Satan. In recent years, TST has sued states with significant abortion restrictions, saying these laws violate the group’s “religious right” to practice its “abortion ritual.” The organization has also protested prayer in school and Christian-themed imagery displayed on public space.