The Satanic Temple Wins Appeal in Missouri Abortion Case

The Satanic Temple Wins Appeal in Missouri Abortion Case October 4, 2017

On Tuesday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on The Satanic Temple’s appeal in their case to claim religious exemption from the state’s informed consent and mandatory waiting period abortion restrictions. In a unanimous decision the court has overturned the case’s dismissal and transferred the case to the Missouri Supreme Court.

“Ms. Doe’s claims challenging the validity of certain sections of the Informed Consent Law under the Religion Clauses are real and substantial,” wrote Judge Thomas Newton in the ruling’s conclusion.

At issue in the case are the materials the state requires clinics to give women seeking an abortion. By law the materials declare that life begins at conception, which the lawsuit argues is a religious claim which Doe, as a member of TST rejects.

Reproductive Rights Banner
Satanic Temple members hang new Reproductive Rights Campaign Banner at TST Headquarters in Salem Mass. Photo Credit: TST-Salem

“The concept of saying that human life begins at conception is a religious belief,” said Doe’s Lawyer James MacNaughton in a statement to the St. Louis Dispatch.

The case also challenges Missouri’s 72-hour waiting period on the procedure which they say is a substantial obstacle to a woman’s free exercise. In earlier cases the court has  ruled that a 24-hour waiting period doesn’t constitute a substantial obstacle, but hasn’t ruled on 72-hours. This problem is exacerbated by the dearth of clinics that can provide abortions in Missouri, causing many women to drive up to five hours to and from the clinic or spend days paying for a hotel room for a simple outpatient procedure.

In addition

Prior to The Doe v. Greitens appeal ruling, on Monday the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to extend a court order that was preventing Planned Parenthood from seeking licensure in Missouri.

This gets slightly confusing so bear with me.

In April a U.S. District judge issued an order barring Missouri from enforcing state regulations that would require Planned Parenthood staff to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, as well as implementing several (seemingly punitive) facility standards. Then, in September, another judge placed a stay on that order basically blocking the blocking of the law. Allowing the stay to expire means the order goes back into effect, blocking the laws which means a Planned Parenthood in Kansas City can open. (Whew).

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  • So many words to say a court case will continue

  • Gus Hernandez

    VERY good Matthew. I think you’re ready for long multiplication.

  • towercam

    Yahoo! Let’s see if the court will deal with the issue fairly. I bet it won’t.

  • Dr. Tar

    So when does the Satanic Temple believe life does begin? Anyone else creeped by the idea of Satanist performing abortions?

  • thundaarr

    That depends on whether the court decides according to the letter of the law. Getting them to acknowledge that the “life begins at conception” thing is religious, is not a small step, I feel. Because it opens the door to overturning many of these abortion restrictions. No law may be made in the US that even hints at establishing a religion, as I understand it. And the argument that enforcing these rules is tantamount to establishing religion in government seems like one you could make. Granted I’m not a lawyer by any means, so I could be completely wrong.

  • What happens after we die?

  • Cyr3n

    as opposed to a christian nutbag that believes women should be punished (or killed) for seeking assistance in a function of their biology? ill take my chances with the satanist.

  • Dr. Tar

    You have a great point. So, doctors who provide abortions should have visiting privileges at area hospitals, right? You know, to make sure the women undergoing the medical procedure at a clinic can be easily admitted if there are any life threatening complications. It would seem a necessary precaution to insure the health of the patients and make sure there are no more tragedies like what happened at Gosnell’s clinic in Philadelphia. Legal, SAFE and rare seems like a reasonable compromise.

  • Pofarmer

    This isn’t about safety In Columbia, MO, there was a planned Parenthood Clinic meeting all the parameters. The Dr. Had admitting priviledges at the local University Hospital. When the Legislature figured it out, they threatened to remove all state funding from the Hospital, even though no abortion procedures were performed there nor was there any support of same. It’s just a political tool that politicians can use. Also, the Clinic was at the time only performing Chemical Abortions, ie, giving a pill before so many weeks. There weren’t even any surgical abortions being performed.

  • Pofarmer

    I’m not a Satanist, but I would argue that the Supreme Court in Roe V Wade hit it about right, with being concerned about viability. With that said, I still don’t think it should be any kind of illegal to terminate a pregnancy after that time due to abnormality of the fetus or health of the mother. Countries like Denmark, make contraception very easy to get. They also make abortions very easy to get up to 20 weeks, then are pretty stringent after that point. I really don’t see what’s wrong with that model. There are a lot of ways to argue it, but if you argue that a fertilized egg is a person, which is what the “life begins at conception” argument is really all about, then that just opens up whole huge cases of worms and basically causes the new mother to be slave to the fetus, at that point.

  • J Ascher

    It can even be taken to a more extreme point as happened in Texas where a brain-dead woman was kept on life support because she was pregnant. Her husband couldn’t take her off of life support because of the fetus.

  • J Ascher

    I’m far more comfortable with Satanists doing this because they have a humanistic philosophy contrary to what Judeo-Christian sects have.

  • Dr. Tar

    I thought the article was about Satanist fighting state government so they could provide abortions and my original observation was that it seemed pretty creepy that one would go to the Satanic Temple for the procedure.
    Not knowing about the events you’re stating I can’t comment, other than to say if true, it would indeed seem a roundabout means to use their elected offices to ban abortion. Links would be nice to verify the history you’re relaying.
    Now, given that this is October and Halloween is right around the corner, you’re not at all disturbed about Satanist leading the charge here? It seems a ready made plot for a horror picture to me.

  • Dr. Tar

    I’ve never attended the Satanic Temple or praised Lucifer, so I couldn’t say what their philosophy actually is, though I think based on popular culture its all about doing the devils bidding and sending as many souls as possible to hell.

    Please, acquaint me with authentic Satan worship. Do they have black masses and kiss the devils buttocks as he farts in their face as their sacrament.

    Personally, I’d suspect that a claim to “humanistic philosophy” actually comes from atheist and the anti-religious who have embraced Satanism. They do son not because the actually believe in the devil, but because the don’t and have no fear of eternal damnation. They do enjoy sticking it to organized religion at every opportunity, though by falsely claiming that they are adherents to the devil they get to do so at every opportunity.

  • Dr. Tar

    So you’d want abortion limited to the 2nd trimester and not allow abortion on demand? I believe that was what the Supreme Court originally ruled in Roe v Wade, but there are a number of political leaders on the left who advocate for abortion right up to birth.
    I wonder if there has every been a case where a women who intended to get an abortion had been murdered. If so I wonder if they charged the killer with one death or two?

  • J Ascher

    If you want to know about this, I understand there are things called “search engines,” such as Google, Bing, and others that will locate information for you. The search engines are usually found on your internet browser in the address bar or in a separate field at the top of your browser.

  • Dr. Tar

    So not being an expert on the Satanic Temple you’re more than willing to be completely comfortable with them being involved with abortion because you assume they’re all about humanism? It’s the only conclusion I can come to since you’re unable to provide any content for the basis of your thinking.

    You understand that by directing me to do work to support your argument isn’t how one makes a valid point to one who questions the premise of your assertion. It’s actually an admission that you have no basis for your position.

    Are there any other topics that you know nothing about that you want me to build your argument for you, I’ll do a search on those as well.

  • Your premise, such as it is, is that you don’t know what any Satanists actually believe, but you’re willing to build a strawman based on old horror movies and then assert that many are only pretending because they don’t fit your imagined stereotype. Then you insist it’s someone else’s job to knock it down for you instead of do a google search. Your entire argument is disingenuous.

  • Dr. Tar

    Actually, I feel I’m on pretty safe ground declaring that at the center of Satan worship is the eternal damnation of the soul.

    What exactly do you think is the ultimate consequence of pledging allegiance to the Satanic?

    Or are you also of the atheist school who really doesn’t believe in any after life and that Satan worship is but a handy tool to mock and oppose those that are believers? You’ll only need to do a search of your own beliefs and not have to spend time looking on the internet.

  • Pofarmer

    You can google it. It’s what I’d have to do.

  • Pofarmer

    Abortion after 8 weeks is pretty rare. Abortion after 20 weeks is exceptionally rare, and almost exclusively for severe fetal abnormalities. I don’t have much problem with the way things are currently, except late term abortions should be easier for women to get.

  • Pofarmer

    “thought the article was about Satanist fighting state government so they could provide abortions ”

    Then your reading comprehension sucks.

  • Shitty attempt at sarcasm aside, the point I was making was, the article itself was just fluff, say what needs to be said, but type out 8 paragraphs to say what can be said in 1.