Satanic Temple files suit to block Indiana’s new abortion ban

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The Satanic Temple (TST) organization on September 21 filed suit against Indiana in a bid to prevent the state from enforcing its new abortion ban, the Washington Examiner reports. Gov. Eric Holcomb signed Indiana’s new legislation last month, prohibiting abortion except in cases of fatal fetal anomalies, rape, incest, or medical emergencies.

Arguing that Indiana’s abortion legislation is detrimental to women, The Satanic Temple, which claims to have 1.5 million members worldwide, is asking the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana to block the law’s implementation, the Examiner reports.

“Members of TST hold the religious belief that an unwanted zygote, blastocyst, embryo, or nonviable fetus should be removed from the body of a pregnant woman,” the lawsuit attests. The suit makes specific reference to an abortion ritual undertaken by TST members that is described as a “destruction ritual that serves as a protective rite,” the Examiner reports.

“When a member of TST has an unwanted pregnancy, she exercises her religious beliefs as expressions of Tenets III and V by engaging in the Satanic Abortion Ritual,” the lawsuit says.”This discrimination infringes upon the fundamental right of Involuntarily Pregnant Women to engage in Protected Sex because they are forced to pay the physical and financial costs of being pregnant without their consent.The Indiana Abortion Ban violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Founded in 2021 and based in Massachusetts, TST claims its goal is to “reject tyrannical authority” from other religions, the Examiner reports.

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