The Satanic Temple Is Trying To Make Abortion A Constitutional Right In Ohio

By Melissa Martin, Ph.D. Last updated May 2, 2023 Share with new partner:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15, NIV)

SALEM, MA – The Satanic Temple, the Salem, Massachusetts-based group contends that the abortion bans infringe on the rights of members who may want to practice the temple’s ‘abortion ritual.’

The Satanic Temple is separate from the Church of Satan, which was founded in the 1960s. Founded in 2013, the Satanic Temple advocates for secularism and considers Satan a literary figure who serves as a metaphor for defending personal sovereignty against religious authority.

The Satanic Temple (TST) made a name for itself in 2021 by putting a display of Baphomet, a twisted creature with a goat head on a sub-human body, in the Illinois capitol building. As a Christmas decoration, it sat in swaddling clothes next to Jesus in the manger.

Watch a panel for Intercessors for Prayers (IFP) as they discuss the Satanic Temple working in Ohio HERE.

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”(2Timothy 4:3-5, ESV)

Abortion Battle in Ohio

According Life News, radical abortion activists are working to make abortions up to birth a constitutional right in Ohio. “The so-called Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a group of radical pro-abortion advocates that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, and the ACLU unveiled the language of their ballot initiative to enshrine abortion into the Ohio Constitution. The ballot measure would get a vote during this November’s election.”

A group that represents more than 1,500 obstetricians and gynecologists in Ohio has officially endorsed the reproductive rights amendment planned for the statewide ballot this fall, as reported on the website for the Statehouse News Bureau.

Dr. Amy Burkett, immediate past chair of the Ohio chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said that group is getting behind the proposed reproductive rights amendment.

Folks, isn’t ironic that baby doctors who pledged an oath to ‘Do No Harm’ are fighting for abortion – the death of the unborn. Change the name of a skunk and it still stinks. Call abortion ‘reproductive rights’ and it’s still ending the life of a human being.

Ohio Right To Life Responds To Abortion Lobby Attempting To Change Ohio’s Constitution: Chief Executive Officer, Peter Range, stated, “At six weeks, a baby’s heart starts beating; at 15 weeks, he or she can feel pain in the womb. Ohio is a pro-life state, and we believe in the value and beauty of every human life. Any attempt to change Ohio’s Constitution by these large out-of-state abortion groups will ultimately fail here in Ohio. We respect the dignity of both mother and child in the Buckeye State.”

Background: Ohio’s “heartbeat” abortion law, which prohibits the procedure in Ohio after six weeks of gestation, became law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

What’s happening: Protect Choice Ohio and Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom are looking to put on the November ballot a constitutional amendment protecting abortion access.

Why it matters: If the amendment makes it to the November ballot and voters approve it, that

would preserve abortion access in a state that’s been a conservative front for opposing abortion.

Recently, the Ohio Ballot Board certified the proposed amendment. Organizers now face the task of collecting more than 413,000 valid signatures from registered voters by July 5, 2023. The signatures must come from voters in at least half of the state’s 88 counties, meaning they cannot all be collected in larger, bluer regions.

Pro-life citizens have responded with multiple efforts of their own, including a $5 million ad buy from Protect Women Ohio and a lawsuit from Cincinnati Right to Life seeking to vacate the Ohio Ballot Board’s certification.

Ohio Right to Life’s Director of Communications, Elizabeth Marbach, told Life News that the wording of the ballot measure is purposefully vague, which allows abortion on demand up to birth for any reason.

“The language of this ballot initiative is extremely vague, making it even more dangerous than we originally believed it would be,” Marbach said. “Make no mistake, the abortion lobby is attempting to impose on Ohioans late-term abortion, paid for by taxpayers. They believe that they can rewrite our state Constitution to eliminate all protections for the unborn, including abortions after the point at which babies feel pain—endangering the health and wellbeing of both women and children.”

“This dangerous rewrite of our constitution would eliminate the basic rights of parents who would no longer need to be informed or provide consent for their minor daughter to have an abortion. It would outlaw health and safety regulations that protect women, and the proposed changes provide no protection for women who feel pressured or coerced to get an abortion. This amendment is too dangerous for Ohio,” Center for Christian Virtue’s Ruth Edmonds told Life News.

Ohio Right to Life

Founded in 1967, Ohio Right To Life, with more than 35 chapters and local affiliates, is Ohio’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.

Pray for the unborn babies, their mothers and fathers, and the pro-life groups and citizens in Ohio. Pray the members of The Satanic Temple would encounter our loving, saving, and life-giving God.