Texas is a new target of the Satanic Temple and its plans to challenge pro-life laws based on the notion that aborting an unborn baby is a “religious right.”
This month, funded, in part, by the abortion of an unborn baby that it raffled off in August, the satanic group filed a lawsuit arguing that Texas informed consent laws violate its members’ religious freedom, The Dallas Observer reports.
Texas requires abortion facilities to provide informed consent information to women at least 24 hours prior to doing the abortion. This includes requiring abortion facilities to do an ultrasound and share the unborn baby’s image with the mother as well as provide an informational packet about the abortion, fetal development, abortion risks and resources for parenting and adoption.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of an anonymous Texas member who is pregnant, alleges these laws violate her religious beliefs. The Satanic Temple also asserts that an abortion is a “religious right.”
“I’m particularly interested to see how your a—— Attorney General Ken Paxton replies to this because he likes to march around the nation taking issue with other states’ issues,” spokesperson Lucien Greaves said. “If he’s not trying to sue them for not electing his preferred president, he’s often releasing press releases about the state of religious liberty in other states and what he feels should be done. He likes to use the language of religious liberty, where it seems to me quite obvious he means religious privilege for a specific viewpoint.”
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In August, the Satanic Temple admitted proudly that, in its belief system, an abortion is a religious ritual similar to communion or baptism for Christians. That same month, it raffled off a free abortion to raise money for its planned lawsuits.
The “abortion ritual” affirms “choice” and removes shame and guilt, Greaves told the Observer.
Here’s more from the report:
The ritual goes like this: Before the abortion takes place, surgically or medically, a member of The Satanic Temple will look at her reflection, be reminded of her personhood and responsibility to herself, take deep breaths, focus on her intent and make herself comfortable. When ready, she will say the third and fifth tenet of the temple aloud.
The third reads: “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” The fifth reads: “Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.”
If receiving a surgical abortion, the individual would complete these steps before receiving anesthetics or sedation. Afterward, she would return to her reflection and cite her personal affirmation: “By my body, my blood. By my will, it is done.”
The group lost similar lawsuits challenging Missouri informed consent laws. In 2019, the Missouri Supreme Court dismissed one of the Satanic Temple’s lawsuits after Judge Laura Denvir Stith and four fellow justices said its members simply could have refused to accept the informed consent pamphlet.
Contrary to the group’s claims, it is well accepted that a unique, new human life comes into being at conception. Numerous medical textbooks, prominent scientists and even some abortion activists admit that life begins at conception and abortions kill human beings.
The Satanic Temple is heavily involved in abortion activism in the U.S. Breitbart once described its work as a “pro-abortion crusade to come to the aid of America’s largest abortion provider,” Planned Parenthood.
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.
