The Satanic Temple has announced plans to start a virtual abortion clinic focusing on “religious medication abortion care.” The clinic’s work will involve sending abortion-inducing drugs by mail.
The drugs will be provided to pregnant people living in New Mexico who are 17 years old and above and are fewer than 11 weeks pregnant. The clinic was named “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic” in an apparent jab at U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who was involved in overturning federal abortion protection in the United States last summer when he wrote the majority opinion in the Dobbs V. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.
The Satanic Temple has declared that abortion is a religious right under its tenets. The Temple’s Website explains:
Consistent with our tenets that call for bodily autonomy and acting in accordance with best scientific evidence, The Satanic Temple religiously objects to many of the restrictions that states have enacted that interfere with abortion access. TST is taking many steps on behalf of our members and those who share our beliefs to establish exemptions from laws that do not promote the health and safety of patients and violate our conscience and beliefs.
[…]
The Satanic Temple’s religious abortion ritual exempts TST members from enduring medically unnecessary and unscientific regulations when seeking to terminate their pregnancy. The ritual involves the recitation of two of our Tenets and a personal affirmation that is ceremoniously intertwined with the abortion. Because prerequisite procedures such as waiting periods, mandatory viewing of sonograms, and compulsory counseling contravene Satanists’ religious convictions, those who perform the religious abortion ritual are exempt from these requirements and can receive first-trimester abortions on demand in states that have enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
[…]
As a federally-recognized religion, The Satanic Temple utilizes RFRA and the Hobby Lobby precedent to protect its members from unnecessary abortion regulations that inhibit their religious practices and force them to violate their deeply-held beliefs. Following the overturning of Roe v Wade, as you can imagine, each state has different laws and restrictions, and religious exemptions vary. Some states recognize religious exemptions, and some will not. The state you are in can make an enormous difference in whether the state government will recognize your right to utilize a religious exemption. Nevertheless, please know that TST will do our best to offer available resources, assist in hunting down information, and aid our members in restricted states to the best of our abilities. If you or someone you know is pregnant and wants to terminate their pregnancy, please get in touch with us so we can help in any way we can.
The Satanic Temple has announced that the “religious medication abortion care” offered to New Mexicans will be provided free of charge and that the cost of the drugs for inducing abortion will cost “roughly $90.” The cost of the drugs is the only expense abortion seekers will be asked to take on, the announcement said.
Washington Examiner reports:
“In 1950, Samuel Alito’s mother did not have options, and look what happened,” Malcolm Jarry, the co-founder of the Satanic Temple, said, according to Fox 10 Phoenix. “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.”
[…]
To be eligible for the clinic, the online appointment must take place in New Mexico. The person must also have a New Mexico mailing address and be in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Read the full article here.
About Post Author
