A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard far-left 'troll' group The Satanic Temple’s effort to challenge Idaho’s abortion ban this week, with even Democrat-appointed judges questioning the group’s claim of standing to sue.
(LifeSiteNews) -- A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard far-left “troll” group The Satanic Temple’s (TST’s) effort to challenge Idaho’s abortion ban this week, with even Democrat-appointed judges questioning the group’s claim of standing to sue.
Idaho’s Defense of Life Act criminalizes abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when allegedly “necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman.” TST filed a legal challenge to the law asserting a First Amendment right to perform “abortion rituals,” which the satanic group says are intended to “cast off notions of guilt, shame, and mental discomfort.” U.S. District Court Chief Judge David Nye dismissed the suit in February “with prejudice,” barring TST from re-attempting it in his jurisdiction.
Courthouse News Service reported that TST appealed to the Ninth Circuit on behalf of its webcam abortion venture “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic,” mockingly named after the pro-life Supreme Court Justice’s outspoken mother. TST complains that the New Mexico-based operation cannot legally dispense pills in Idaho.
Alan Hurst of the Idaho Attorney General’s Office argued that the out-of-state group lacks standing to bring the suit, as it has no actual in-person facilities within the state. “They don't have facilities to do this in person,” he said. “They have no plans to get facilities to do this in person.”
“We know that the clinic does not have a preexisting activity of providing abortions in Idaho because the clinic only provides abortions to people who are physically present in New Mexico,” Hurst argued.
Judges John Owens and Mary McKeown, both appointed by past Democrat presidents, questioned both sides about the question of standing, with TST attorney James Mac Naughton arguing that every state was full of “involuntarily pregnant women,” some of whom are TST members.
TST is a radical secular-leftist group that purports to embrace Satan’s name as a “symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority” while not believing that God, the devil, or other supernatural concepts literally exist, though it does promote satanic rituals. It is known for agitating for an array of leftist causes, including similarly unsuccessful pro-abortion lawsuits and promotion of LGBT “pride,” with the satanic branding helping draw attention to its antics via shock value.
During the first Trump administration, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recognized TST as a “church,” granting it tax-exempt status and strengthening its claims for religious accommodation.
