{"id":273878,"date":"2022-08-10T12:37:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T17:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=273878"},"modified":"2022-08-10T12:58:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T17:58:12","slug":"woman-altar-abortion-sacrifice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-altar-abortion-sacrifice\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman builds ‘altar’ for abortion, because child sacrifice still happens today"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On August 4th, Drew Hernandez, an investigative reporter and commentator with FRONTLINES and Turning Point USA, unearthed and posted<\/a> to Twitter a video by the group Self-Guided Abortion<\/a>, run by a self-described \u201cabortion doula,\u201d and which boldly proclaims on its website that \u201cAbortion Is Sacred.\u201d The video has since been made private on YouTube, but can still be viewed here<\/a>, and contains instructions on \u201chow to build an altar for your mifepristone + misoprostol abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

An altar<\/a> is \u201can elevated place or structure … on which sacrifices are offered to gods, ancestors, etc.\u201d And, shockingly, the woman in Self-Guided Abortion\u2019s how-to video suggests collecting the \u201cfetal remains\u201d after the abortion has been completed in order to place them under the altar.<\/p>\n

Perhaps she is ignorant of history, but her suggestion parallels horrific practices in human history which we would be better off not imitating.<\/p>\n

Civilizations have been sacrificing their children since time immemorial<\/h3>\n

Many peoples throughout history have built altars upon which they placed the corpses of their children.<\/p>\n

The Bible references<\/a> the pagan god Moloch<\/a> as one to whom child sacrifices<\/a> were routinely made by cultures surrounding the Israelites, and even at times by the Israelites themselves \u2014\u00a0in spite of the fact that God had commanded<\/a> them not to do so.<\/p>\n

The ancient Carthaginians<\/a> sacrificed newborns at locations called tophets<\/em>. Some experts speculate<\/a> these sacrifices were used for population control and that rich Carthaginians used them as a means of preserving their wealth.<\/p>\n

Child sacrifice is also a well-documented facet of many early Mesoamerican cultures.\u00a0For example, at El Manat\u00ed, an Olmec \u201csacred place,\u201d archaeologists Ortiz and Rodriguez<\/a> unearthed numerous bones of \u201cnewborn (and possibly unborn) human babies\u201d interred alongside figures of pagan deities.<\/p>\n

Franciscan friar and missionary Bernardino de Sahag\u00fan<\/a> reports that the Aztec god Tlaloc required the earth to be wet by the tears of sacrificed children before he would bring rain. Consequently, if the children did not cry, priests would tear off their fingernails before killing them.<\/p>\n

Researcher Andrew K. Scherer<\/a> reports that the Maya performed infant sacrifices to appease supernatural beings who might otherwise have eaten the souls of more important people.<\/p>\n

In Peru, the Chim\u00fa people sacrificed children \u201cto appease the El Ni\u00f1o [weather] phenomenon,\u201d according to archaeologist Feren Castillo<\/a>. The later Inca<\/a> culture sacrificed child victims during wars and natural disasters, among other occasions.<\/p>\n

Modern abortion rituals recall ancient pagan practices<\/h3>\n

Self-Guided Abortion\u2019s video guide incorporates a litany of neo-pagan elements, including \u201csmudging<\/a>\u201d (to \u201cclean the space\u201d), crystals<\/a> (\u201cto bring more energetic resonance to the altar\u201d), and an Empress tarot card (\u201cshe … symbolizes feminine fertility … and the growing and manifestation of the new and creation\u201d). Ironically, she also uses an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, to whose appearance Catholics credit<\/a> the Christian conversion of countless indigenous Americans away from the child-sacrificing Aztec religion.<\/p>\n

The woman in the video also puts the abortion pills on the altar to \u201cbless\u201d them, and \u201cto put [the] intention for healing into the pills\u201d \u2014 even though abortion pills do the opposite of healing. They kill a child, and can cause medical complications<\/a> for the mother.<\/p>\n

This abortion ritual is far from unique. A simple web search yields numerous pre-scripted abortion rituals.<\/p>\n

READ: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio: Abortion is a woman\u2019s \u2018sacred choice\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Some, like the following<\/a>, are similar to the one described in Self-Guided Abortion\u2019s video in their neo-pagan overtones:<\/p>\n

The image we held for [the baby] was of a lighthouse, flashing a loving message to him … letting him know … that he was not going to be able to land here. We told him the date for which abortion had been scheduled, and that if he wanted to turn around on his own, he could do so before then. Otherwise, his parents would go ahead with the procedure, bringing as much beauty and love to it as they could … We carried our prayer bundle outside to the fire pit, and built a hot, beautiful fire … We called out, by name, to the ancestors who would be waiting for [the baby] … We prayed that his voyage be blessed. And we laid the bundle on the fire. Then we turned and … listened while the offering was received by the hungry fire spirits.<\/em><\/p>\n

This ritual, found on Facebook<\/a>, also recalls elements of Self-Guided Abortion\u2019s video.<\/p>\n

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Some of the rituals incorporate pagan elements alongside those of other religions, like this<\/a> quasi-Jewish ritual, which includes scripted prayers to the \u201cDivine Presence,\u201d and utilizes two bowls of water \u2014 one of which is meant to represent the mikveh<\/em><\/a>, the Jewish ritual bath for purification. The perversion of the mikveh<\/em> into an abortion ritual seems to be fairly common<\/a>. Another Judeo-pagan \u201cself-birthing\u201d abortion ritual<\/a> also involves a mikveh<\/em> element, focuses on affirming one\u2019s own \u201cinner beauty and Divine sparks,\u201d and \u201cinvolves blessing of the newborn\/renewed self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appendix B of the Pregnancy Options \u201cAbortion Resolution Workbook<\/a>\u201d has compiled abortion rituals for and from virtually every faith tradition, including a Native American ritual, a Buddhist ritual, a pagan ritual, and a ritual \u201cbased on Christian and … African-American [c]ultural [t]raditions\u201d involving ancestor worship. They also have one for Hispanic Catholic women which centers on prayer to the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n