By Dave Andrusko
On Thursday District Court Chief Judge David C. Nye rejected a challenge to Idaho’s Defense of Life Act brought by The Satanic Temple. Judge Nye dismissed the case “with prejudice” and “without leave to amend,” meaning that the group cannot bring the case in the district court another time.
Pro-Life Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador hailed the victory as a “resounding defeat for the Satanists.”
“The Satanic Temple claimed a constitutionally protected right for its female members to ceremonially abort their babies as part of a Satanic ritual that involves the eerie invocation: “By my body, my blood, by my will, it is done.” Labrador wrote.
“The district court rejected every claim The Satanic Temple asserted and dismissed the case with prejudice. The court held that each claim lacked merit, even describing one of The Satanic Temple’s positions as producing a “blatantly absurd” result,” said Attorney General Labrador. “My office will continue to defend the lives of the unborn at every turn.”
Idaho enacted the Defense of Life Act following the 2022 Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade.
“Shortly after the law took effect, The Satanic Temple sued Attorney General Raúl Labrador and the Ada County Prosecutor, Jan Bennetts” a press release from the AG’s office said. “The Satanic Temple also claimed that Idaho’s law unconstitutionally interfered with its New Mexico abortion clinic, which does business as “The Sam Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic.”