A federal lawsuit over a set of pro-abortion billboards by the Satanic Temple continues to move forward in federal court.
In 2020 the Satanic Temple proposed four billboard designs that falsely claimed The Satanic Temple’s “religious abortion ritual averts many state restrictions” on abortion. The group reportedly wanted Lamar Advertising Company to place the billboards in Arkansas.
The Satanic Temple has unsuccessfully tried to persuade federal courts to recognize abortion as a religious right. So far courts have refused to do so.
And contrary to what the billboards implied, Arkansas’ pro-life laws have never contained exceptions for any “religious abortion ritual.”
One of the Satanic Temple’s billboard designs claimed pregnancy complications are the sixth most common cause of death among women between the ages of 20 and 34, concluding that “abortions save lives.”
Lamar Advertising Company understandably rejected the billboard designs for being “misleading and offensive.”
Court documents indicate the Satanic Temple wanted Lamar to place the pro-abortion billboards near pregnancy resource centers in Fayetteville, Springdale, and Little Rock.
After its pro-abortion billboards were rejected, the Satanic Temple filed a federal lawsuit against Lamar Advertising in February of 2022.
Among other things, the lawsuit argues that “[the Satanic Temple] holds the view that some abortion restrictions substantially interfere with its religious beliefs. Particularly, abortion restrictions . . . interfere with [the group’s tenets regarding] bodily autonomy and . . . [are] not grounded in science.”
According to court documents, The Satanic Temple also alleges that rejecting the billboards is a form of religious discrimination.
Lamar’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks to dismiss the lawsuit. However, last year Judge Brooks decided not to dismiss the case.
Last month attorneys representing Lamar Advertising Company filed a brief arguing that the Satanic Temple had “not pointed to evidence that creates a factual issue regarding whether [Lamar] discriminated against [the Satanic Temple] or breached the contract” with the Satanic Temple.
Lamar has asked for summary judgment from U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks. Summary judgment would resolve the lawsuit quickly based on the evidence presented so far in the case — without going to trial.
The lawsuit currently is scheduled to go to trial in Fayetteville this July.
It’s worth pointing out that the Satanic Temple is an atheist organization with a long history of stirring up controversy in Arkansas.
The group has opposed Arkansas’ monument honoring the Ten Commandments and is part of a lawsuit to have the monument removed from the capitol grounds.
In August of 2018 the Satanic Temple held a small protest in front of the State Capitol, and parked a flatbed trailer holding a 7½-foot statue of baphomet — a satanic figure — in front of the Capitol Building.
The Satanic Temple had previously threatened to put the baphomet monument on the capitol grounds itself. However, nothing ever came of the threat, because monuments require legislative approval.
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