Agnostic activist organization, The Satanic Temple, has announced plans to reject a Texas rule requiring fetal remains of abortions to be buried or cremated.

The rule was pushed through this summer by Texas' Health Services department at the urging of Gov. Greg Abbott who said that the measures would reflect higher standards in the sanctity of life. According to the Satanic Temple, the rule conflicts with two of the temple's seven basic tenets (specifically #3 and #5), which include

  1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy towards all creatures in accordance with reason.
  2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
  3. One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.
  4. 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 your own.
  5. Beliefs should conform to our best scientific understanding of the world. We should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit our beliefs.
  6. People are fallible. If we make a mistake, we should do our best to rectify it and resolve any harm that may have been caused.
  7. 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.

The Satanic Temple successfully fought against the state of Oklahoma when officials placed a Ten Commandments monument on capitol grounds. The Temple constructed a monument to the horned goat deity Baphoment (pictured above) and requested it be placed on capitol grounds along with the commandments. When officials refused, the Temple sued and the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in the Temple's favor.

Critics of Texas' rule say the state is trying to enact such rules to slowing break down federal laws that protect abortion. The Satanic Temple spokesman and co-founder Lucien Greaves told Snopes that their group is more than ready and willing to test the constitutionality of the state's rule,

If one of our members claims exemption from this upon terminating a pregnancy, and the state insists that the burial fee must be paid, we will immediately file an injunction. We will sue, and we will win.

Texas' fetal burial rule is set to go into effect on December 19th.

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