INITIATIVES

RELIGIOUS ABORTION RITUAL

The Satanic Temple's religious abortion ritual exempts TST members from enduring medically unnecessary and unscientific regulations when seeking to terminate their pregnancy. The ritual involves the recitation of two of our Tenets and a personal affirmation that is ceremoniously intertwined with the abortion. Because prerequisite procedures such as waiting periods, mandatory viewing of sonograms, and compulsory counseling contravene Satanists’ religious convictions, those who perform the religious abortion ritual are exempt from these requirements and can receive first-trimester abortions on demand in states that have enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Download RAR Doc
 

WHAT ARE CRISISPREGNANCY CENTERS?

Crisis Pregnancy Centers, also known as “pregnancy resource centers” or “pregnancy support centers,” are structures that disguise themselves as abortion clinics to attract people who are dealing with unplanned or unwanted pregnancies. The centers often provide misinformation and promote a religious agenda to dissuade people from seeking abortion services. Centers are not HIPAA compliant, so they are not required to protect the information or identities of those who visit. There are roughly 3,000 of these fake clinics in the United States. The Satanic Temple has created flyers that disclose these facts about crisis centers. The flyers are intended to be downloaded from our website so that volunteers can distribute them outside of the fake clinics to people who might not be aware of their mission.

DOWNLOAD FLYER

Please download these PDFs and make copies to hand out in front of any crisis pregnancy center.

TIPS WHEN PASSING OUT FLYERS

  • Always be courteous and respectful.
  • Flyers are intended for people going into the crisis centers but may be handed out to curious people as well.
  • When offering the flyer, ask, "Would you like to know a little information about crisis centers?"
  • If a passer-by asks, "Why are you doing this?" Let them know you are helping people get accurate information so they can make decisions that best meet their needs.
  • Do not engage in debate or long explanations. You can refer people to the TST website for more information.

HOW TO ENSURE YOUR RELIGIOUS REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

The First Amendment and RFRA:

The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause as well as several state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRA), “protects religious practices and beliefs from government interference.

State Law:

State laws governing abortions commonly serve no medical purpose and do not result in better health outcomes. Therefore, they unlawfully hinder access to the Satanic abortion ritual.

Next Steps:

If your religious exemptions requests are denied when undergoing reproductive care or seeking to perform the Satanic abortion ritual, immediately contact TST at rrr@thesatanictemple.com with your name and phone number to start the next steps of resolving the situation and deciding whether to take legal action.

MISSOURI JUDY DOE SUIT

When TST member Judy Doe sought to terminate her pregnancy in the state of Missouri, she was faced with legal requirements that contravene her religious beliefs and were not medically necessary. Missouri mandated that she receive literature which asserts the arbitrary opinion that “the life of each human being begins at conception,” and that she endure a 72-hour waiting period, designed so that the state’s arbitrary position on life will be thoroughly considered before undergoing the procedure. TST argued in our lawsuit that the mandated imposition of religious opinions upon Satanists seeking to terminate a pregnancy violates TST’s deeply-held beliefs of bodily autonomy and scientifically-reasoned personal choice. We have appealed the case to the US Supreme Court for further consideration on our claims to religious freedom.

TST Takes Judy Doe Suit to Supreme Court

INFORMED CONSENT DATABASE

TST has released a comprehensive directory that addresses each state’s abortion restrictions regarding the informed consent process for pregnancy termination procedures. Many states have enacted informed consent statutes that interfere with TST's religious beliefs by requiring unnecessary prerequisite procedures and forcing Satanists to accept unscientific, arbitrary language before they are allowed to undergo an abortion. Whereas other research databases provide overviews of these regulations in convoluted grids or brief lists, only TST’s directory contains an exhaustive explanation of abortion statutes that illuminates the subtleties between state laws that other resources consider innocuous.

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FETAL BURIAL RULES

Both Indiana and Arkansas have successfully passed laws requiring health care facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains from spontaneous or induced abortion or ectopic pregnancy regardless of their patients’ wishes. This clearly constitutes a violation of the long-established domain of religious entities to handle the remains of the deceased. TST asserts its religious right to treat human tissue as medical waste.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Share this information with people who share our deeply held beliefs who may find themselves subjected to restrictions that violate their beliefs

Donate to TST to help support religious reproductive rights