For Surgical Abortions:
Prior to receiving any anesthetic or sedation, look at your reflection to be reminded of your personhood and your responsibility to yourself. Focus on your intent. Take deep breaths, and make yourself comfortable. When you are ready, say the Third Tenet and Fifth Tenet aloud. You may now undergo the surgery. After the surgery is completed and any anesthetic has worn off, return to your reflection and recite your personal affirmation. Feel doubts dissipating and your confidence growing as you have just undertaken a decision that affirms your autonomy and free will. The religious abortion ritual is now complete.
For Medical Abortions:
Tenet III. One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
Tenet V. 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.
Personal Affirmation. By my body,my blood
By my will it is done.
By my will it is done.
The First Amendment and RFRA:
The First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause and 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:
We have no plans or intent to sue a clinic for not respecting our rights unless they defy a court order demanding that they honor our exemption requests. We understand that clinics must adhere to the law and that they are in a difficult situation when laws conflict. Instead, we will challenge states that fail to enforce their RFRA laws and thereby exempt TST members from unnecessary abortion restrictions.
If your religious exemption requests are denied when 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.
Why Does the Satanic Temple Support Reproductive Rights?
The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.
THYSELF IS THY MASTER
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you worship Satan?
No, nor do we believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural. The Satanic Temple believes that religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition.
What does Satan mean to TST?
Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds.
What do you believe then?
- One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason
- The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
- The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
- 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.
- People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
- Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
