The Satanic Temple has filed two new lawsuits in Indiana and Idaho to protect our members’ access to abortion. The latest restrictions on abortion access in the two states provide exceptions for serious health risks, lethal fetal anomalies, and instances of rape or incest, but make no exception for abortion based on religious beliefs. We are focusing on four key legal arguments in these cases: First, restricting members’ access to abortion infringes on their religious right to participate in our Satanic Abortion Ritual. Second, forcing someone who does not consent to become pregnant to proceed with their pregnancy represents an unconstitutional seizure of their property -- in this case, their uterus, without compensation. Third, forced pregnancy requires the pregnant person to engage in involuntary servitude in violation of the 13th Amendment because the state is compelling them to provide safety, nutrition, and other services against their will. And finally, Indiana’s restrictions criminalize abortions that result from protected sex and create a class of people who are discriminated against because they are denied access to abortion after becoming pregnant unintentionally. “We believe securing our members’ access to abortion to be of the utmost importance,” TST’s Director of Campaign Operations Erin Helian explained. “Forcing people to go through pregnancy when they do not choose to is blatantly an overreach of these extremist officials’ religious dogmatism into politics, and TST will not allow that to stand.”
