In May, the Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple filed a lawsuit against the state of Missouri on religious grounds, arguing that a statute for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies promotes the Christian viewpoint that life begins with conception.
Women seeking abortions in Missouri must be offered an ultrasound to hear the foetal heartbeat, receive informed-consent booklets that claim human life begins at conception, and wait 72 hours in order to receive an abortion, according to the statute. However, the Satanic Temple argues that these rules infringe the religious freedom of people who do not hold this Christian view of conception.
The lawsuit was filed in defence of a mem-ber of the Satanic Temple who sought an abortion. The group say the state’s opinion upon abortion is irrelevant to them. Defence argued that reading the required booklet does not violate religious rights.
