Satanic Temple loses appeal in religious freedom lawsuit over abortion

Satanic Temple loses appeal in religious freedom lawsuit over abortion

Ryan Murphy, Indianapolis Star

Wed, January 7, 2026 at 12:50 AM UTC

3 min read

A federal appeals court has ruled against the Satanic Temple's religious-based challenge of Indiana's near-total abortion ban.

On Jan. 6, 2026, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit sided with a 2023 lower court opinion that the group lacked standing to sue because it did not present evidence that at least one Hoosier adherent was actually harmed.

"This lawsuit was ridiculous from the start, but this unanimous court decision is a critical victory because it continues to uphold our pro-life law that is constitutionally and legally rock-solid," Attorney General Todd Rokita said in a press release.

Under Indiana law, abortion is allowed only in very narrow circumstances: cases of fatal fetal anomalies, threats to the mother's life, and pregnancies before 10 weeks' gestation caused by rape or incest. Lawyers for the Satanic Temple argued that these restrictions conflict with the religious practices of its Hoosier adherents.

The group holds as one of its central tenets that "one's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone" and permits abortion. Among the group's practices are a "Satanic Abortion Ritual," a meditation designed to "cast off notions of guilt, shame, and mental discomfort that a patient may be experiencing due to choosing to have a medically safe and legal abortion," according to an exhibit filed with the court.

The group filed its initial complaint against Attorney General Todd Rokita and then-Gov. Eric Holcomb in September 2022, arguing Indiana's abortion laws violated both the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of religious freedom and the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In March 2023, Holcomb was removed from the lawsuit, and Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears was added as a defendant.

The group attempted to open a telehealth clinic offering medication abortion in Indiana but were unable to do so thanks in part to a 2022 statute specifically preventing the prescription of abortifacients via telemedicine.

The lawsuit also said the state's law violated the rights of Indiana temple members who were unable to terminate pregnancy after contraceptives failed, though no members were named specifically.

In October 2023, U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled the Satanic Temple lacked standing to sue in the Southern District of Indiana both because "Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic" never operated in the state at all and because the group never presented evidence that a specific person was harmed.

The Satanic Temple appealed the dismissal. The appeals court unanimously upheld Magnus-Stinson's ruling, agreeing that there was no evidence of an injury.

"In sum, the Satanic Temple has not pointed to any member, through its constitutionally questionable statistical probability method or otherwise, who is in fact injured," the opinion read in part.

The Satanic Temple was founded in 2013. It is a secular group, and its members do not worship the biblical Satan but instead view the figure metaphorically as "a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority," according to its website. The temple is not connected to the Church of Satan, a group founded in the 1960s.

Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Satanic Temple loses appeal in religious freedom lawsuit over abortion

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