Mary Anne Pazanowski, Legal Correspondent for Bloomberg Law, put it briefly: “Satanic Temple Bounced From Texas Abortion Law Challenge.”
This week the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas rejected its lawsuit, according to Bloomberg Law. The court described the lawsuit as a mystery and cited a lack of basic facts about plaintiff “Ann Doe” having standing to sue.
Specifically, the court said the Satanic Temple’s complaint was “too free and vague to support its standing to sue Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Young or overcome her sovereign immunity in its claims for violations of free speech, free exercise of the First Amendment, and establishment clauses,” Pazanowski wrote.
The lawsuit amended an earlier version that “challenged the state’s informed consent laws, including a waiting period requirement and another requiring that a pregnant mother be given the opportunity to hear the heartbeat of heart of her unborn baby and see the child’s image on an ultrasound,” according to Micaiah Bilger.
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Then, in December, after the US Supreme Court was overruled Roe v. Wade and Texas began enforcing its abortion ban, the satanic group filed an amended complaint arguing that the laws prohibit its members from performing “ritual” abortions. The Texan reports
“SB 8’s ban on abortion after six weeks violates the rights of our members to engage in the religion of their choice and participate in religious rites and rituals,” said the Satanic Campaign’s Director of Operations. Temple, Erin Helian, in a statement when they filed an amended case. “In accordance with our Third Tenet, the Satanic Temple will push for the Texas legislature’s violation of the bodily autonomy and freedom of choice of our members.”
The Satanic Temple “first filed suit in 2021 against Texas Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Cecile Young based on religious freedom and free speech grounds,” Bilger reported.
For years, the Satanic Temple has been suing to challenge pro-life laws in various states, but so far, all of its lawsuits have failed. In 2020, a federal appeals court rejected his attempt to challenge the Missouri informed consent law. In 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court dismissed another of the Satanic Temple’s lawsuits.
But every time it loses, it tries again with a new strategy. Its plan is to challenge pro-life laws based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which ensures that the government does not arbitrarily interfere with people’s religious freedom.
The Satanic Temple has a lot to do with abortion activism in the US Breitbart once described its work as a “pro-abortion crusade to help America’s largest abortion provider,” Planned Parenthood.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He writes frequently for Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on life issues.
