Skip to main content


Scientology Religious ‘Order’ called ‘Sea Orgs’ Forced Abortions on Members

Members of this 'inner circle' of devotees are required to sign a contract agreeing to serve Sea Org 'for the next billion years.'


WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - Sea Organization or Sea Org is a sort of “religious order” within Scientology where only the most committed members of the late L. Ron Hubbard’s cult live out their lives. For the unborn child of a mother in Sea Org, that isn’t very long. They are aborted.

Members of this “inner circle” of devotees are required to sign a contract agreeing to serve Sea Org “for the next billion years.” They are given room and board plus a small wage for performing the various roles, such as gardeners, cooks, laborers, secretaries, graphics designers, writers, and assembly line workers.

According to those interviewed by the St. Petersburg Times, they were required to work extended hours, deprived of sleep, experienced prolonged separation from spouses, and received punishment for misbehavior.

In addition, children were seen as a distraction from their higher calling. Those who were pregnant were counseled to seek abortions, even though Scientology publicly affirmed a pro-life position.

In a December 9, 1950 article in “Look” Magazine the author, Albert Q. Maisel, writes, “Unlike many religious groups, the proponents of dianetics have nothing against birth control. But the greatest of all crimes and the root of most evils, as they see it, is the attempt - or even just the verbal wish - to cause the abortion of a child already conceived.

“They object here, not so much on moral grounds, as because such attempts - or such wishes and thoughts - load down the time track with the basic-basic demon engram.

“But all is not lost. Dianetics can transform you into a ‘clear’ - a person whose every engram has been resolved.”

Explanations of Scientology’s belief regarding abortion vary. Some sources indicate that L. Ron Hubbard toward that a baby doesn’t have a spirit until it is born. Others say that he taught that a fetus may already be inhabited by a spiritual being.

It would seem, however, that principle gave way to pragmatics as Scientology grew. Affidavits and other reports of forced abortions go back as early as 1994 while the abortions themselves began taking place in the mid 80’s.

Mary Tabayoyon spent 25 years in Scientology, 21 of which were as a member of Sea Org. In an affidavit dated 26 August 1994 for the case CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY INTERNATIONAL VS. STEVEN-FISHMAN AND UWE GEERTZ,
Defendants, she described a September 26, 1986 Sea Org Flag Order (an order binding upon all members) that forbade members from having any more children. Disobedience would result in exile to a lower expression of service. When the child reached age 6, the parents could return.

According to Tabyoyon, there were several instances where pregnant women were coerced into having an abortion as an alternative to exile. When she reported her own pregnancy, the Medical Officer arranged for the life of her child to be terminated.

Tabyoyon is only one of many affidavits, testimonies and statements from past Sea Org members who had abortions at the insistence of the organization.

An affidavit from Tera Hathaway in 2001 reads: “[The Executive Director] had gone on to say that at this point in my life it is better to do the greatest good for all. That spending my life ‘clearing the planet’ which means basically to get the planet saved from insanity, would be the greatest good, in other words, a far more noble endeavor than leaving staff to raise a child.

“She went on to tell me that the spirit doesn't enter the baby's body until the baby is born. She made the point that all I would be ‘killing’ is a piece of meat essentially. We discussed this for a couple of days and she showed me definitions in the L. Ron Hubbard Technical Dictionary to persuade me to have an abortion.”

In June of this year the Joe Childs and Tom C. Tobin, of the St. Petersburg Times, offered a three-day special report on Scientology that addressed a full litany of issues and concerns with the group who participates in the entire spectrum of abuses – physical, mental, social, and spiritual.

An editorial published online at TampaBay.com on November 6 by the St. Petersburg Times called for a long-overdue investigation of Scientology.

“As former staffers lift the veil of secrecy that for years has obscured the inner workings of the Church of Scientology, a new mystery emerges: Why are government authorities looking the other way?

“The Internal Revenue Service has ample reason to reconsider its decision to grant Scientology tax-exempt status as a religion. Labor officials should determine whether wage and working condition violations have occurred, and law enforcement ought to investigate whether the church's restraint on members' free movement crossed a legal line.

“The Church of Scientology trumpets its global reach and expansions in communities large and small across America. Its presence can be disruptive, as Clearwater has learned since the church secretly moved in and established its spiritual headquarters in the city more than 25 years ago.

“Government cannot afford to be complacent, and those politicians and community leaders who have normalized relations with Scientology can no longer claim ignorance about the nature of the church and the treatment of its workers.”

The Times is not alone in wondering why the group has not already been investigated. An increasing number of people, including this writer and many other Catholics are asking the very same question.

-----

Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online. He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church. He has written numerous articles concerning Scientology.


- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention:
The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords:

NEWSLETTERS »

E-mail:       Zip Code: (ex. 90001)
Today's Headlines

Sign up for a roundup of the day's top stories. 5 days / week. See Sample

Rate This Article

Very Helpful Somewhat Helpful Not Helpful at All

Yes, I am Interested No, I am not Interested

Rate Article

1 - 10 of 56 Comments

  1. Birdie
    2 years ago

    In this series of videos, Steven Fishman explains how the Church of Scientology told him he was the real Father of Jesus Christ and that Mary was actually impregnated by his "seed" while bathing in a spring.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKTveC__FMs

  2. Mary McConnell
    3 years ago

    This is quite a cult. Excellent article here. You sure did your research. Please keep bringing information to the forefront about Scientology. Thank you.

  3. THE RONBOT HUNTER
    3 years ago

    The Staff will force the abortion of a child to any that they have labeled as PTS or down-stat.

    And if even you are not getting sick, but have a relative they target as against them, they will attack him, by making you kill the un-born child.

    They are losing all around the world and they are using fair-game against their own members.

    As a group fails, it goes insane trying to find the solution, their conditions formula is not working any more, thus the killings.

    THE RONBOT HUNTER
    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  4. Ray Serra
    3 years ago

    Scientology is a fraudulent cult that sells non existant services for money. It is nothing else but that.

  5. Mark
    3 years ago

    I see today they are ahead of us in investigating in Australia:

    "Scientology is not a religious organisation; it is a criminal organisation that hides behind its so-called religious belief."

    Senator Xenophon tabled a letter from Perth man Aaron Saxton, in which he admits to torture and blackmail while working for the Church of Scientology in Australia and at its American headquarters between 1989 and 1996.

    Mr Saxton says he assisted in the "forced confinement and torture" of a female church member who was kept under "house arrest" on a farm in western NSW for a month.

    "Several abortions were ordered as well," his letter states.

    See: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/scientology-criminal-says-senator-nick-xenophon/story-e6frg6nf-1225799077820

  6. Bulbajer
    3 years ago

    Loa, I agree.

  7. Loa
    3 years ago

    In response to Wendy,
    Loa is only commenting on whether this is a religion or not; that just because it's unconventional compared to western religions doesn't make it any less so.

    The other aspects I mad no comment on. But there's no religion on this earth that has not had it's scandals...and that includes the Catholic Church...and some of it's past Popes.

  8. Lilly von Marcab
    3 years ago

    Here is some audio of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard describing the cult's "deadly" do-it-yourself abortion technique:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7x1zNK4mgU

  9. Bulbajer
    3 years ago

    I agree with Wendy. The argument here is nothing to do with the worship or absence of worship of God; it's about the abuses made public. Of course, the media (MSM or not) will do anything to make a small, unconventional religion look like a cult, so I'm prepared to believe that Scientology is not as cultish as it's made out to be, but it still sounds fishy to me.

  10. The Ronbot Hunter
    3 years ago

    You should ask any ex-scientologist about the Godless cult. We will tell you the same story. It is a scam and a fraud.

    All they care about is money.

    $5000,000 dollars later you will learn that bugs are crawling over your soul and you must pay more to have them removed.

    You will learn that you are descended from space aliens and that only the blacks lived on Earth before Scientologists were brought to planet earth.

    That your enemies 75,000,000,000 years ago were psychiatrists and they are still trying to kill you.

    The lies, scams and frauds are many.

    THE RONBOT HUNTER
    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


Leave a Comment

Comments submitted must be civil, remain on-topic and not violate any laws including copyright. We reserve the right to delete any comments which are abusive, inappropriate or not constructive to the discussion.

Though we invite robust discussion, we reserve the right to not publish any comment which denigrates the human person, undermines marriage and the family, or advocates for positions which openly oppose the teaching of the Catholic Church.

This is a supervised forum and the Editors of Catholic Online retain the right to direct it.

We also reserve the right to block any commenter for repeated violations. Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.

We ask that you NOT post your comment more than once. Catholic Online is growing and our ability to review all comments sometimes results in a delay in their publication.

Send me important information from Catholic Online and it's partners. See Sample

Post Comment


Newsletter Sign Up

Daily Readings

Reading 1, Sirach 6:5-17
A kindly turn of speech attracts new friends, a courteous ... Read More

Psalm, Psalms 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34, 35
Blessed are you, Yahweh, teach me your will! Read More

Gospel, Mark 10:1-12
After leaving there, he came into the territory of Judaea and ... Read More

Saint of the Day

May 24 Saint of the Day

St. David I of Scotland
May 24: David, the youngest son of Scotland’s virtuous queen, (Saint) ... Read More