The Satanic Temple plans to hold a rally this fall to demand that they be allowed to abort unborn babies for any reason, at any time — and without informed consent.
The religious group is involved in abortion advocacy in a number of states, including lawsuits challenging pro-life laws. Its upcoming rally is part fundraiser, part publicity stunt for its radical pro-abortion agenda.
“The Satanic Temple will be staging a rally for religious reproductive rights and women’s health at the capital of one of the states with the most egregiously restrictive abortion laws,” the group said in a statement.
The states are Indiana, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio and Utah. All of the state have passed pro-life laws in the past year to protect mothers and unborn babies, including through informed consent laws and bans on abortions at certain points in pregnancy, such as when an unborn baby’s heartbeat is detectable.
The satanic group said it will hold its rally in the state that receives the most donations, and the donations will be used to fight the pro-life laws.
“As a religious organization, TST insists that its members are exempt from obstacles to abortion access in accordance with their beliefs under both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” the group said. “TST’s religious belief that people should live in accordance with the best scientific knowledge available, and its belief in bodily autonomy, inform their opposition to laws that restrict abortion access.”
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Right now, the group is challenging a Missouri law that requires abortion facilities to provide women with information about the development of her unborn baby, including the opportunity to view the ultrasound of her unborn baby, the risks of abortion and alternatives available to them. All of the information is based on scientific facts and research. The law also requires a 72-hour waiting period between the informed consent and the abortion.
However, the satanic group claims the law pushes religious beliefs on women who are seeking abortions. In the lawsuit, the group points to a 1989 ruling by the Eighth Circuit “which explicitly states that the life of each human being begins at conception is ‘an impermissible state adoption of a theory when life begins.’”
In February, the Missouri Supreme Court dismissed another one of its lawsuits. Judge Laura Denvir Stith and four fellow justices said Doe could have refused to accept the booklet. She also said the state does not require ultrasounds prior to abortions; rather, ultrasounds are a routine procedure conducted by abortion facilities.
“(T)he informed consent law neither requires a pregnant woman to read the booklet in question nor requires her to have or pay for an ultrasound,” Stith wrote in her ruling. “And, while Ms. Doe mentions the 72-hour waiting period, she does not allege how that waiting period conflicts with her religion nor that it was an undue burden, nor did she seek to enjoin its enforcement prior to the expiration of that waiting period.”
At the time, St. Louis Public Radio reported Chief Justice Zell M. Fischer wrote a concurring opinion that refuted the Satanists’ religious freedom claims. He said the U.S. Supreme Court “has made it clear that state speech is not religious speech solely because it ‘happens to coincide’ with a religious tenet.”
The Satanic Temple is heavily involved in abortion activism in the U.S. Its members have filed multiple lawsuits challenging state abortion regulations.
Some of its members also attempt to intimidate peaceful pro-life sidewalk counselors through gruesome protests. In 2016, pro-life advocates outside of a Detroit, Michigan Planned Parenthood faced a disturbing scene when a group from the Satanic Temple arrived to counter-protest wearing baby masks and carrying whips. They held a similar protest on Good Friday in 2017.
Breitbart once described the Satanic Temple’s actions as a “pro-abortion crusade to come to the aid of America’s largest abortion provider,” Planned Parenthood.
