The battle over Idaho's abortion
laws are working through the federal
and state Supreme Court system.
You may remember the United States
Department of Justice filing a
lawsuit against Idaho back in August.
The DOJ says that Idaho's laws violate the
emergency medical treatment and Labor Act.
You might have heard this referred to
as mtala, but now another organization
is filing a lawsuit of their own,
and for very different reasons.
It's the Satanic temple,
and they say that Idaho's abortion
laws violate their religion and.
Other rights protected under
the Constitution.
Here's our Andrew Hartline.
A Church of nearly one and
a half million worldwide,
represented through 3500 in the Gem state.
Rowan Astra, absolutely and
intrinsic is a devout follower,
but her church likely runs contrary
to the one in your neighborhood.
I consider myself deeply religious in
this matter. I'm just a Satanist, you
understand? Calling yourself a
Satanist probably isn't winning
a lot of people over. Yeah, it
it's not a it's not necessarily a popular
label, but it's the one that resonates.
Not as a literal character or
higher power from the Bible.
Rowan says the Satanic Temple
looks to Satan as a symbol.
He is a figure of justice against,
again, tyrannical authority. That is
God's tyrannical authority.
What do you mean by that?
So for me and my personal context,
that would mean Christian theocracy,
not Christianity. But.
People who want to assert their
Christianity on others via legislation.
So a lot of these laws in Idaho,
would you say those aligned with that,
that people are legislating their
religion? Unfortunately, yes.
Idaho's abortion laws restrict most abortion
except for the case of rape or incest.
The Satanic Temple filed a federal lawsuit
against the state of Idaho in response.
The lawsuit claims Idaho's
laws violate the 5th,
13th and 14th Amendments,
along with Idaho's.
Exercise of Religious Freedom Act
religious freedom in America
protects all sorts of religions.
Eugene Volak is a law professor at UCLA.
He says the satanic temples arguments
are valid like any other religion,
but the temple has to prove their
motivation is strictly religious.
Religious claims don't have to
make sense in any logical sense,
nor do they have to be easily linked to.
Holy Scripture doesn't have to be reasonable
so long as it's sincerely believed.
The lawsuit focuses on the
satanic abortion ritual.
The ritual claims a person's
body is their body alone.
No one else can make a decision
for another person's body.
The 13th Amendment does
not ban all required work.
It doesn't ban the draft.
It doesn't ban jury duty where
you're also required to labor,
albeit for shorter times.
It doesn't ban requiring people to show
up in court as witnesses, for example.
It bans those things that have
historically been understood as
slavery or something like that.
So you're not buying that that 13th.
Amendment One you don't think
is too strong of an argument?
Well, I'm not buying it,
but more importantly,
I don't think courts will buy
it. But Rowan is hopeful.
Hopeful that the lawsuit will
be successful, of course.
And I'm hoping that Idahoans will
regain their rights to bodily autonomy
in regards to reproductive healthcare.
Two other claims in the lawsuit focus
on the 5th and 14th Amendments,
and these arguments are similar
to that 13th amendment to where
it's kind of a secular argument.
They say restricting abortion or forcing
a woman to go through an unwanted
pregnancy violates property rights.
Further, the lawsuit alleges
allowing a woman who is raped to
have an abortion and not a woman
who got pregnant by accident.
They say that's discriminatory.
So Joe, they're saying that violates
the equal protections clause
of the 14th Amendment.
So there are secular arguments in
this on what would otherwise be
classified as a religious organization.
Now I'm curious, you mentioned that,
you know they they filed
a lawsuit here in Idaho.
This is a a nationwide and
really a worldwide religion.
Is this being just filed in
Idaho or has this been filed
in other places where abortion
laws have recently changed? I
don't know what the list is to its entirety.
I believe Indiana has a lawsuit
there as well on behalf of the
Satanic Temple against the state.
So I know it's not the only place
as terms of a a complete list.
We're not positive right now,
but Idaho is not the only one.
It'll be interesting because I know
that online when Roe V Wade was
effectively reversed with the Dobbs.
Taxing decision.
There's a lot of comments in line.
Well, we we can't wait to hear if the
different religion will file some type of a,
a violation of their First
Amendment rights in a court.
So I guess this is what
some were waiting for.
But it'll be interesting as you
highlight in your story how this plays
out. Yeah. And the Satanic temple
is not the only religion as well.
And in different states in different places.
So they're not alone in this.
And of course, we know the Department of
Justice has that lawsuit in Idaho as well.
OK well, we got a whole collection
of lawsuits at the federal and
Supreme Court level here in Idaho.
The Supreme Court, actually,
on Thursday, they'll start looking
at the Idaho abortion. Hours again.
So we'll keep everybody updated,
but for now, Andrew Hartline reporting.
Thank you, Andrew.