The Satanic Temple filed a lawsuit at the federal court last week, only a month after it said that it would be using religious liberty laws to protect and promote its own tenets. The suit was filed against Missouri’s governor and attorney general by a group of Satanists headed by a woman, who has been identified as Mary Doe only, and together they want a federal ruling that would nullify abortion restrictions that currently require pregnant women to wait for 72 hours before they can undergo an abortion.
The Satanic Temple has claimed that the existing law violates its religious beliefs as well as the country’s establishment clause that bars the government from adhering by any one religion and its teachings.
As of now, Missouri requires women who wish to undergo abortions to avail themselves of educational literature targeted towards expecting mothers as well as see an ultrasound and hear the heartbeat of their unborn children.
Mary Doe, who underwent an abortion at a planned parenthood in St Louis earlier this year, recently alleged that the mandatory waiting period she had to endure before undergoing the surgery violated her Satanic beliefs and restricted her from exercising her right to abort human tissue in keeping with Satanic tenets.
The Satanic Temple dismisses the Christian notion that life begins at conception and urges its followers to make health decisions based on proven scientific findings, even if science does not comport with certain political or religious beliefs.
The lawsuit filed by the group of Satanists also claimed that Missouri’s regulations violate America’s establishment clause by advocating some but not all religious notions that human tissue is, from the time of conception, a separate, unique entity whose destruction is not permissible.
The organization’s website states that the complainants are trying to accumulate legal fees through crowdfunding. If there is any leftover, The Satanic Temple would use that money to launch a reproductive rights campaign that it believes would help defend the rights of women who want to undergo abortions via religious exemption.
Photo Credits: World Religion News
