Press Release
Satanic BDSM Babies Crash Anti-Abortion Protest
The Satanic Temple of Detroit protests to expose fetal idolatry and the perpetuation of fictional, coercive propaganda against Planned Parenthood.
April 23, 2016 -- In response to the nationwide Planned Parenthood protest, members of The Satanic Temple of Detroit crashed the event dressed in bondage fetish wear, baby masks and diapers and engaged in group flagellation. The performers were then painted gold by adoring fetal idolizers. The action was intended to expose fetal idolatry and the perpetuation of fictional, coercive propaganda against the reproductive health organization. The Satanic Temple (TST) believes that the anti-choice movement’s obsession with, and mischaracterization of the fetus obscures medical reality and a woman’s constitutional right to choice. Enlarged images of fetuses which are no larger than an inch and the personalization of mindless, senseless human embryos elevates the fetus to the status of a demigod.
The Satanic organization believes that all people are entitled to make informed decisions about their health, family and future without coercion. The philosophical and religious opinions of some should not be used legislate morality. The attempt to do so violates American foundational values of freedom and liberty.
The highly politicized anti-choice movement advocates for the abolition of Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides critical preventive and primary reproductive health care services to low-income women. The current cornerstone of their argument stems from a fabricated, fictional story that clinics “sell baby parts for profit”. Organizers of the April 23rd protest, entitled #ProtestPP, directly intended to irresponsibly perpetuate this contrived story in an attempt to leverage misunderstanding for political gain and impose the moral opinions of some upon a diverse community.
According to Jex Blackmore, Director of TST Detroit, “Despite the fact that a Texas grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of all allegations and the producers of the misleading videos have been indicted on felony charges, anti-choice organizers have adopted the tactics of holding protests outside clinics alongside startling, exaggerated posters of fetal images suffused with language of scandal and crime to make them more potent. The strategy of elevating tiny human embryos and fetuses to a reverence creates a fantasy in which the maternal body is both erased and criminalized.”
The Temple employs grotesque, fetishized visuals to draw parallels to the approach of the anti-choice movement with a focus on bodies, eroticism and powerful imagery as a tool to communicate complex ideas.
Video of the action - Video by Matt Anderson
For more information, please contact Jex Blackmore, Director of The Satanic Temple of Detroit at jex@thesatanictemple.com.
About The Satanic Temple
The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will. Civic-minded, The Satanic Temple has been involved in a number of reproductive health initiatives including a current state and federal lawsuit over Missouri’s mandatory 72-hour pre-abortion waiting period, For more information about our reproductive rights campaigns, please visit http://religiousreproductiverights.com.
Photos by Bruno Vanzieleghem