Texas’s Satanic Temple opposes new abortion laws.
Inevitably, Texas’s new body of rules governing abortions has stirred the public. Recently the Satanic Temple from Texas voiced its concern over the new abortion rules saying that they are in violation of the Religious Freedom Reform Act.
The new rules instated by the state of Texas dictate that fetal remains will no longer be regarded and disposed of as biomatter. As a result, hospitals and clinics which perform abortion procedures are obliged to cremate the fetal remains or to bury them according to the family’s indications.
The enforcement plan voted by the Texas Department of Health and Human Services does not apply in the case of home miscarriages or abortions due to genetic abnormalities.
Texas’s Satanic Temple believes that the new enforcement plan is incompatible with bodily integrity, and declared that its members would not abide by the new rules. In addition, the Satanic Temple used the First Amendment to expose Texas’s new abortion rules.
According to multiple Facebook posts, the Satanic Temple believes that the enforcement plan circumvents the right to practice a belief, as laid down in the Religious Freedom Reform Act. The group declared that with the new abortion rules, the state of Texas inhibits it from practicing its religious beliefs.
Furthermore, the Satanic Temple said that not only these rules inhibit the right to practice religious beliefs, but that they also place a stigma on women who choose to end their pregnancies.
However, the group declared in a footnote that they require a legal representative in order to protect their rights.
It would seem that this incident was not singular. This year, a judge from Indiana ruled out the new enforcement plan, after it was signed by Governor Mike Pence.
The new rules will take effect starting on the 19th of December. According to this new body of laws, hospitals, clinics, and private clinics which perform abortion can no longer dispose of fetal remains as they do in the case of biomatter.
In consequence, these facilities are obliged to dispose of fetuses in a dignifying manner – either by cremating the remains or by burying them according to the family’s indication and funeral practices.
However, as mentioned before, the new body of rules has some exceptions. For example, the fetal remains from miscarriages or abortions performed at home, will not be subjected to these new rules. The same terms apply to pregnancies terminate on the basis of severe genetic abnormalities.
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