An article on VICE.com reports: "The Satanic Temple announced on Monday that “informed consent” abortion laws — which require doctors to give state-mandated information that can be inaccurate or misleading to women seeking abortions in an effort to provide a “balanced” perspective — violate the temple’s religious philosophy.

"…The Center for Reproductive Rights lists thirty-two states with biased counseling laws mandating that women seeking abortion must receive information designed basically to change her mind. In some states, the law even mandates that a woman be told there is a link between abortion and breast cancer, even though the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society have stated that there is no link.

"Texas has one of the strictest state anti-abortion counseling policies in the nation: all abortion providers are required to perform an ultrasound on a woman seeking abortion, show her the ultrasound images and provide a full “medical description” of the images, make her listen to the fetal or embryonic heartbeat if there is one, tell her there’s a link to breast cancer, and then make her wait 24 hours until she can come back for the abortion procedure.

"…Beyond the legal standing of religious beliefs, though, what the Satanic Temple’s challenge highlights most is … (that) the same conviction cited in the SCOTUS Hobby Lobby decision should apply regardless of where that belief comes from. “If you’re going to say that because you don’t believe in a personal God or a personal Satan, that you’re deeply held belief is meaningless… You’re privileging a superstition,” (According to their spokesperson, Lucien Greaves.)"

FYI:

"…The Satanic Temple is a sort of opposition group that mobilizes “politically aware Satanists, secularists, and advocates for individual liberty” across several campaigns that include the right to same-sex marriage, women’s rights, and even a Protect the Children Project that seeks to use a similar religious exemption to ban corporal punishment in schools. ...This January, the temple announced their plan to install a Satanic monument on the Oklahoma statehouse lawn, rattling local politicians."

Deb Gaber