The Satanic Temple has sued Idaho over its abortion ban, making it the latest state accused of violating the group’s religious beliefs and practices.
Named TST in the lawsuit, the group claims that the state’s abortion law violates the group’s Satanic Abortion Ritual. The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 30.
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The group claims that, as a religion, its ritual is a protected right under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Under the act, the federal government cannot burden the free exercise of religion without a compelling reason and, if necessary, must do so in the least restrictive way.
TST claims that some of its Idaho members are forced to be pregnant, therefore subjecting women to involuntary servitude, per a TST statement.
Each woman has a property right to her own uterus, TST claimed, and the right to remove an unborn child cannot be taken away without consent or some form of compensation under the Fourth Amendment.
Idaho’s trigger ban went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. The state’s abortion law prohibits abortion in most cases, except for rape, incest, and medical emergencies regarding the life of the mother.
“Idaho’s abortion bans run afoul of the US Constitution and Idaho state laws in so many ways that the judiciary would have to be shamelessly corrupt not to recognize one or all of our claims,” TST Director of Campaign Operations Erin Helian said in the statement. “We have confidence in American jurisprudence and the courts will do the right thing by respecting our religious rights.”
TST previously sued Indiana under a near-identical lawsuit to Idaho’s on Sept. 21.
The Satanic Temple, which is based out of Salem, Massachusetts, does not believe in worshiping Lucifer, unlike the Church of Satan.
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The group, which was founded in 2012 and is recognized as a 501(c)(3) organization by the IRS, believes in the allegorical Satan described in John Milton’s Paradise Lost and reveres itself as “the defender of personal sovereignty against the dictates of religious authority.”
