TWH – A number of Pagan, Heathen, and Pagan-adjacent organizations and groups have begun issuing statements regarding the recent Supreme Court ruling that reversed the precedent of Roe v. Wade.
The Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) issued a statement on the reversal:
In Wicca, we believe in personal responsibility. We believe that it is everyone’s responsibility to bring the best and highest good to our communities; that through this action we strengthen the whole.
We also maintain a firmly-held belief in reincarnation. We know that energy is transmutable, but never destroyed.We hold strong in our knowledge that a baby aborted by a parent who would not care for it will eventually find a home in the womb of a parent that would love it unconditionally. Likewise, we understand the damage to our communities that would ensue if children were born to parents that would resent them, which can only weaken our communities as a whole.It is because of these strongly-held religious beliefs that we declare that the choice of abortion is on the person carrying the baby, and that this decision is for the betterment of the person, the parent who would eventually carry that soul, the communities that these souls would incarnate into, and Wicca as a whole.Through our deeply held beliefs on reincarnation, personal responsibility, and duty to our community at large, Wiccan’s must enjoy those rights, even when contrary to Christianity, afforded to those of true faith.
The Troth issued its statement on the ruling on Friday, June 24:
Today, the Supreme Court delivered a decision that overturned the prior decision in Roe v. Wade, the case that limited the States’ powers in determining the legality of abortion. We know it today as the “abortion decision” but in truth it was much more than that. It was a declaration that the United States respected and protected a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, sometimes summarized as the slogan “My Body, My Choice.”
This bedrock principle of bodily autonomy is fundamental to our understanding of human rights.
The principle of bodily autonomy is not merely that you can do with your body whatever you wish, but that no one can use your body for any purpose that you do not explicitly consent to.
In almost every other circumstance, we respect this principle absolutely.
No one can take your blood for donation without you asking, even if that blood would save someone’s life.
No surgeon can take your organs without your explicit consent even if that organ would save someone’s life which even applies if you were dead. Unless you had already consented to be an organ donor, we respect your bodily autonomy even in death.
But now, if you get pregnant, you have less bodily autonomy than a corpse. With this decision, The State now has the power to demand you allow your body to be used to carry and bear someone without your consent under penalty of law. This is an intolerable violation of the human rights of anyone who can become pregnant.
There are those who, for their own reasons, will celebrate this decision. And there are those who, delighting in cruelty, will take joy in witnessing the pain of millions who are hurt by this decision.
What they fear more than anything is that this will produce a backlash that will lead to people standing up, organizing and fighting for the restoration of human rights for all people affected by this decision.
As a Pagan religious organization, The Troth recognizes that the erosion of human rights for any person is an erosion of human rights for all of us. It’s not too far to imagine that a Court who can strip bodily autonomy in one decision can strip away religious freedom in another.
This is our fight too.
If you stand for universal human rights, The Troth stands with you.
Forn Sidr of America, A Norse Hof Association issued their statement on Friday:
We are aggrieved by the recent decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to revoke the rights of millions of Americans to safety and privacy in their medical care.
Forn Sidr is a religious identity that fundamentally upholds the right of every person to self-determination over their fate, and this theme is consistent throughout our sagas and in the tradition of the Allthing. The United States is also a land whose First Nations have a long history of governance by assembly. The founders of our current “great experiment” drew inspiration from the successes of these cultures to structure our democracy.
By overturning its ruling on Roe v Wade, which established rights to medical freedom and privacy in legal precedent, the US Supreme Court has violated the human and religious rights of American Heathens- but it also the violated the fragile trust that exists between the American people and their highest court to govern according to the will of the People.
These are tumultuous times when the faith that we put in our democracy may waver, but the United States is a young country and its people are resilient and stubborn in the face of oppression. Forn Sidr of America will continue to advocate for the rights of Heathens and all Americans to dignity, privacy, and bodily autonomy. We grieve together and we will find strength in each other until this miscarriage of justice is corrected.
The Contemplative Order of Compassion, an organization that identifies itself as “a nonsectarian, post-denominational, open, affirming and inclusive spiritual home for tens of thousands of people worldwide” and lists its diverse membership as “including Christian, Buddhist, Luciferian, Jewish, Muslim, Jain, Humanist, Wiccan, Esoteric, Heathen, Maori, and Indigenous American spiritual traditions,” released the following statement on June 27 signed by Executive Director and Presiding Minister, Dr. Francis-Maria (Gianmichael) Salvato:
With the historic decision the Supreme Court of the United States, which is now clearly under the control of a sociopathic Christian fundamentalist religious cult,
thirty-six million women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB) have been stripped of their constitutional freedoms that protect bodily autonomy, privacy
and personal choice in healthcare and future.The overturn of Roe v. Wade represents the willful destruction of a fifty-year precedent of settled law in the United States.
There is a word for when a living being has no choice over its reproductive life, we call such beings livestock, and that is what the six reprehensible and morallybankrupt justices have chosen to treat 36 million Americans as this week.
And make no mistake. The agenda isn’t merely to attack reproductive rights, as their decision was swiftly followed with a decision that allowed concealed carry of dangerous weapons, and another decision allocating public funding to be used for private, religious schools. And this morning, the Religious Cult on the Supreme Court ruled that teachers and coaches are permitted to call for and offer prayer in public schools, moving us even closer to the Handmaid’s Tale.
Next on their agenda will surely be attacks on sexual expression, gender diversity, marriage equality and other civil rights.
It is on all of us to stand up and fight back because there IS something we can do right now.
Gaining political power is the only way to meet this challenge — and if the Supreme Court is going to leave it up to the states to decide who has control over a woman’s body, then we MUST elect people who stand for human rights, reproductive and bodily autonomy, sexual and gender diversity, and racial equality.In the mean time, while there are organisations that are engaging lawsuits focused on due process, and other organisations, with problematic histories of antiSemitism and other issues, who have taken up the fight based on their interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause, we recognise that there are tens of thousands of persons who do not wish to be associated with such groups for whatever reasons they have, who still require advocacy.
The Contemplative Order of Compassion has stood for reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, sexual and gender diversity, and racial quality, as well as social justice in other areas for more than 40 years.
Presently, consistent with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, we maintain that states that outlaw abortion but grant exceptions for instances of incest and rape should provide a religious exception allowing members of the Contemplative Order of Compassion to perform the Sacrament of Reclaiming the Sacred Womb abortion ritual. We will have to sue those states to affirm our civil rights, but the law is clearly on our side.
The Sacrament of Reclaiming the Sacred Womb abortion ritual is a sacramental ritual for women and those assigned female at birth (AFAB) to affirm bodily autonomy, self-worth, sovereignty and healing, through a sacred abortion ritual. By sanctifying the abortion process, affirming the individual’s sovereign and sacred rights to spiritual comfort, confidence and bodily autonomy when undergoing a safe, scientific procedure under the care of a qualified medical professional, this is one of the highest sacraments offered in our church.
Where there is no exception for rape and incest, the challenges we mount will be more significant. In the meantime, unfettered access to safe and effective abortion drugs, such as Mifepristone and Misoprostol for use under medical supervision is an important next step, and ought to be immediately provided for use in our sacramental rituals. If necessary, suits will be filed against the FDA for that access.
The Mother Grove of Ar nDraiocht Fein: A Druid Fellowship re-posted its statement on sovereignty and bodily autonomy that it released at the beginning of May:
As a group that understands the importance of sovereignty for the well-being of a people, we stand behind each person’s right to be the ruler of their own body. That our bodies are sacred, and there is a limit to the power a government, or anyone else, has over our bodies. Our traditions are full of strong and independent deities that demonstrate this to us.
Many of the choices we make with our own bodies are complicated, some are painful, but all are personal. We understand how easy it would be, once we hand over a part of our body autonomy, for more to be taken from us.
No matter where we may stand on each individual choice that can be made for someone’s body, we will stand for the freedom of that person to make the choice themselves. No part of someone’s body should be ruled by someone else.
We call to the deities of Sovereignty,
You who stand for one’s choice,
Grant us the Courage,
To hold Sovereignty over our own bodies.
Give us the Strength to choose,
To stand up for those who cannot,
And grant those in power,
The Wisdom to understand.
Eventide Grove released the following statement:
On the U.S Supreme Court’s decision to abolish the Reproductive Rights of women
The history of the patriarchy is punctuated by unrelenting efforts to infantilize women and control their bodies and their spaces. The patriarchy’s obsession with women’s bodies and private actions is obscene. Eventide Grove deplores the recent ruling nullifying Roe vs. Wade setting a precedent for the elimination of freedoms in the United States. We will work to restore justice and freedom to women and restore their agency over their lives.
The Marble Palace that houses the United States Supreme Court is often referred to as a Temple of Justice facing east bearing the motto “Justice, the guardian of Liberty.” Eventide is convinced that six justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, failed to honor that motto. We are equally convinced that Clio, the patron of history, has taken note and will not remember your actions kindly to future generations.
Macabre Magick on Facebook offered up their own inclusive magical sigil for womb protection and reproductive rights, which was designed for everyone with a uterus.
Artist Karen Hallion offered up her artwork for free use as long as her work was credited:
Image credit: Karen Hallion
Other Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with Joseph Kennedy, an assistant coach for Bremerton High School’s varsity football team and head coach of the junior varsity team, who sought to pray and kneel on the playing field after games. The court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines. The Wild Hunt will be covering that ruling and its implications later this week.
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Almost immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision reversing Roe was released, social media was flooded with people making posts offering to help women seeking help in gaining access to abortion.
Legal and abortion service experts warn against people seeking help taking any of these offers at face value and instead relying on verified and proven organizations and groups when seeking aid.
Here is a limited list of resources for those seeking information on safe abortions or seeking to support others:
National Women’s Health Network
Advocates for Youth
National Network of Abortion Funds
Keep Our Clinics
The New England Journal of Medicine published a statement that strongly condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling on the reversal of Roe, “By abolishing longstanding legal protections, the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade serves American families poorly, putting their health, safety, finances, and futures at risk. In view of these predictable consequences, the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine strongly condemn the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision. ”
In related news:
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- Israel announced today that it has eased its regulations on abortion access in response to U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. Nitzan Horowitz, Israel’s Health Minister said, “A woman has a complete right over her body. The SCOTUS decision to negate a woman’s right to make a choice over her own body is a sad process of women’s repression, setting the leader of the free and liberal world a hundred years back.” Israel’s new rules which were approved by a parliamentary committee, grant women access to abortion pills through the country’s universal health system, removing a longstanding requirement that women appear physically before a special committee before they are permitted to terminate a pregnancy. While abortion is widely accessible and does not care the same controversy as in the U.S., accessing abortion is not automatic. Women will now be allowed to obtain abortion pills at local clinics, and the entire process will be streamlined to allow for quicker and easier access to approval for abortion.
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- The Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach, a Florida has filed a lawsuit over a new abortion law passed in the state and set to become effective as of July 1. The synagogue contends the law violates Jewish teachings, which state that abortion “is required if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman” and for other reasons. The lawsuit filed on Friday in Leon County Circuit Court also stated, “As such, the act prohibits Jewish women from practicing their faith free of government intrusion and this violates their privacy rights and religious freedom.
The decision handed down by the Supreme Court on Friday reversing the long-held legal precedent of Roe v. Wade spurred larger turnouts for Pride Month marches that were often joined by those supporting a woman’s right to choose. The potential for other rights like same-sex marriage and rights to privacy being overturned is likely to be an ongoing concern.
Included in the Supreme Court’s majority decision was Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring statement that explicitly calls for the re-examining of other landmark cases like Griswold (right to privacy and contraception), Obergefell (right to same-sex marriage, and Lawrence (right to engage in private, consensual sexual acts) and stated, “Substantive due process conflicts with that textual command and has harmed our country in many ways. Accordingly, we should eliminate it from our jurisprudence at the earliest opportunity.”
Tarot of the week by Star Bustamonte
Deck: The Poe Tarot, by Trisha Leigh Shufelt, published by REDFeather, Mind, Body, Spirit.Card: Queen of Candles (Wands)
This week tempering the balance between work and domestic activities are likely to be a key element. There is also a focus on how the energies of passion, confidence, and engagement are channeled.
Conversely, allowing the ego and ambition to dominate is prone to result in exhaustion and the loss of needed support and cooperation for projects undertaken.
Decks generously provided by Asheville Pagan Supply.
- The Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor of Boynton Beach, a Florida has filed a lawsuit over a new abortion law passed in the state and set to become effective as of July 1. The synagogue contends the law violates Jewish teachings, which state that abortion “is required if necessary to protect the health, mental or physical well-being of the woman” and for other reasons. The lawsuit filed on Friday in Leon County Circuit Court also stated, “As such, the act prohibits Jewish women from practicing their faith free of government intrusion and this violates their privacy rights and religious freedom.
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