Satanic Temple Opens Abortion Clinic Named for Alito's Mother

(Newsmax)

By Nicole Wells    |   Thursday, 02 February 2023 

The Satanic Temple (TST) announced it will open a telehealth abortion clinic in New Mexico named for the mother of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.

The temple said Wednesday it plans to open "The Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic," which it billed as a "religious abortion clinic," on Feb. 14. The name is likely a dig at the Catholic Alito for writing the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and sent the question of abortion back to the states.

Guided by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, adherents believe that "direct abortion" is a "moral evil" and is "gravely contrary to the moral law."

The Satanic Temple has long pushed for the right to religious abortions or religious abortion ceremonies, and filed lawsuits against Indiana and Idaho for their abortion bans after the Dobbs decision.  

According to the organization's website, the telehealth clinic will serve anyone who is 17 years of age or older in New Mexico at the time of the appointment and no more than 11 weeks pregnant. Services offered include medication abortion, emotional support, religious support, and financial assistance.

"In 1950, Samuel Alito's mother did not have options, and look what happened," Malcolm Jarry, co-founder of TST, said in a press release. "Prior to 1973, doctors who performed abortions could lose their licenses and go to jail. The clinic's name serves to remind people just how important it is to have the right to control one's body and the potential ramifications of losing that right."

According to the temple, abortions serve a religious purpose in protecting bodily autonomy. TST's "abortion ritual serves as a protective rite," according to the group's website.

"Its purpose is to cast off unwanted feelings that a patient may be experiencing due to choosing to have a legal and medically safe abortion," the website states. "This ritual is designed to alleviate stressors and empower the patient to be guided by The Satanic Temple's Third and Fifth Tenets when pursuing their decision.

"The ritual serves to assist in affirming their decision and to ward off the effects of unjust persecution, which can cause one to stray from the paths of scientific reasoning and free will that TST Members strive to embody."

The temple's abortion ritual is "exclusively verbal" and consists of the recitation of TST's third and fifth tenets.

The third tenet states: "One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone." The fifth tenet states: "Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs."

The Satanic Temple said it plans to launch similar clinics in several more states, including those where abortion is banned.