November 13, 2026
In the heart of St. Louis, Missouri, an 18-foot golden monolith now stands as a testament to the twisted narratives of abortion extremism.
“Witness,” a creation of Shahzia Sikander, has been quietly installed outside Rung for Women, a “center” that says its purpose is empowering women’s career advancement. But women don’t need abortion to have a career — as the working moms at Students for Life illustrate every day. But disturbingly, the message of “Witness” testifies to a world view offensive to a family neighborhood.
Sikander’s controversial and demonic sculpture has appeared in south St. Louis, specifically in the Fox Park neighborhood, in Missouri, quietly snuck in while many pro-lifers were focused on the Missouri Ballot Initiative fight in late October.
As reported by St. Louis Magazine: “The 18-foot sculpture features a golden feminine figure with braided hair resembling rams’ horns and arms transforming into root-like appendages. Her collar resembles that of late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” The demonically themed image was created as an abortion message following the Dobbs Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe, according to Sikander.
With its horn-like braids and tentacle-like arms, this statue is less a celebration of strength and more a grotesque embodiment of the cult-like fervor driving pro-abortion politics.
In fact, when Students for Life engages in a prayerful planned protest of the hideous sculpture (soon to be announced), it will be SFLA’s second protest of the Satanic “Witness.” In Houston, the hideous beast got a facelift. It was mysteriously beheaded. Eventually it was removed.
READ MORE HERE: Students for Life of America Joins Protest of Satanic Statue at the University of Houston, Plans to Set Up Cemetery of the Innocents in Response
Sikander’s attempt to frame the horns as symbols of feminine power is laughable. In almost every cultural tradition, horns signify evil or demonic possession, not strength. The fact that she’d so brazenly appropriate Satanic imagery to celebrate the killing of preborn babies reveals the true nature of her art: a propaganda piece designed to normalize death as a form of liberation.
Equally offensive, however, is the location. The statue is on private property, but near a family-friendly park, in full view of the playground and children’s ball field and right near an historic church, St. Francis de Sales Oratory, serving the community since 1867. The twisted image is in a family-saturated area. Perhaps the goal was to target the children who would pass by.
The “artist” Shahzia Sikander talks about how she wants to make “the anti-monument,” and to be the one telling children our history. She writes: “How history is told, as well as who gets to tell it, exposes the hierarchies of power in our world.”
The backlash against this installation, led by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, protests an ugly tribute to abortion forced into a neighborhood without their support.
This “art” is less about free speech and more about the the dehumanization of life itself. When you reduce human beings to mere “clumps of cells” and celebrate their destruction as some perverse form of liberation, you’re not fighting for freedom, you’re worshipping at the altar of nihilism.
If the most compelling argument pro-aborts have is to erect a demonic monument in public spaces, then perhaps their cause is less about justice and more about the ritualistic celebration of death.
Another puzzling element to the story is that the Rung for Women leadership has ties to the Taylor family, through Founder and Board chair Ali Hogan, whose grandfather, Jack Taylor, was the founder of the Enterprise Rent-a-Car enterprise and Enterprise Mobility. Hogan has been honored for and noted to be a person working to empower growth and change, so that women can succeed and provide for a family, following in the footsteps of her grandfather, whose holding company is known for charitable endeavors.
Looking at other family endeavors, the Taylor Family Foundation has as its stated mission a “commitment to the Christian Faith, the preservation of family values, the support of children … and the blessings of our American Heritage.” A demonically themed statue does not fit the family brand.
As “Witness” rests on the property of Rung for Women, we hope that Hogan and her board decide to serve the community with real help and will quickly order the removal of the offense creation.
Students for Life of America (SFLA) stands firmly against the glorification of abortion and the dehumanization of preborn children. Through our nationwide network of student advocates, campus outreach and education, and legislative advocacy, we work to challenge the culture that treats abortion as empowerment rather than the ending of an innocent human life.
Through initiatives such as our Abortion Victims National Campus Tour, which confronts the human cost of abortion, and Standing With You, which provides resources for pregnant and parenting students, we offer a life-affirming alternative to the abortion culture. Meanwhile, our sister organization, Students for Life Action, advances legislation protecting preborn children.
We will continue to speak out against efforts to normalize abortion, challenge the institutions that promote it, and defend the dignity of every human life, born and preborn.