Satanic Temple seeks to use Hobby Lobby to stop abortion deterrents
Satanists in New York are citing the Hobby Lobby case to exempt their female followers from abortion laws as they are a “sincerely held religious beliefs,” launching a recent campaign to advance the pro-choice cause. The Satanic Temple is
Satanic Tempe is making headlines for their desire to get “religious freedom” from abortion education photo/Satanic monument for Oklahoma
“Informed consent bills requiring abortion providers to give their patients official ‘informational’ material regarding the procedure have been criticized in the past for providing biased and false information to women in a bald effort at dissuading them from abortions,” reads a press release from the group.
“Such materials have included claims of a link between abortion and breast cancer, as well as claims regarding a depressive ‘postabortion syndrome’, both of which The Satanic Temple view as ‘scientifically unfounded’ and ‘medically invalid’ and therefore an affront to their religious beliefs.”
To remedy the situation, the Satanic Temple has drafted a letter for women seeking an abortion, which rails against informed consent and demands that doctors respect a religiously motivated exemption.
The letter to health care professionals specifically details some of the tenets of The Satanic Temple, outlining why women presenting the text want to opt-out of informed consent laws.
“My body is inviolable and subject to my will alone,” text of the letter reads in part. “I make any decision regarding my health based on the best scientific understanding of the world, even if the science does not comport with the religious or political beliefs of others.”
“While we feel we have a strong case for an exemption regardless of the Hobby Lobby ruling, the Supreme Court has decided that religious beliefs are so sacrosanct that they can even trump scientific fact. This was made clear when they allowed Hobby Lobby to claim certain contraceptives were abortifacients, when in fact they are not. Because of the respect the Court has given to religious beliefs, and the fact that our our beliefs are based on best available knowledge, we expect that our belief in the illegitimacy of statemandated ‘informational’ material is enough to exempt us, and those who hold our beliefs, from having to receive them,” says Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves.
The organization said that this is the first in a series of new women’s health initiatives that the group will launch.
The Satanic Temple, which does not believe the devil to be real and, instead, “advocates for religious tolerance and pluralism,” made headlines earlier this year with plans to put a satanic monument on the Oklahoma state capitol grounds.
