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The Satanic Temple is opening a health clinic in New Mexico to provide "free religious medication abortion" and will name the facility "The Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic" in mockery of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
TST Health, the new medical services arm of the nontheistic religious organization, will provide telehealth screenings and appointments to provide abortion pills to patients. These services will be provided free of charge as part of The Satanic Temple's "abortion ritual," though patients must still pay for the medications from a pharmacy, which typically cost around $90, according to the TST Health website.
The New Mexico facility will be operated by licensed medical staff and will make its services available to state residents who are at least 17 years old, up to 11 weeks pregnant and medically eligible for an abortion.
The facility was named for Justice Alito's mother because Alito wrote the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion.
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TST Health is a new medical arm of The Satanic Temple that provides "free religious telehealth medication abortion care." (Screenshot of tsthealth.org)
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)
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"In 1950, Samuel Alito’s mother did not have options, and look what happened," said Malcolm Jarry, a co-founder of The Satanic Temple. "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."
The Satanic Temple was co-founded by Jarry and Lucien Graves a decade ago to be a Satanic faith-based organization that would meet the requirements to receive government benefits and privileges as a religious organization, but without belief in a deity. Its stated mission is to "encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits."
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The Baphomet statue is seen in the conversion room at the Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts, on Oct. 8, 2019. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)
The group claims bodily autonomy and "the freedom to offend" as sacrosanct in its fundamental tenets. It has sparked outrage nationwide by starting after-school Satan clubs, installing statues of Baphomet in public holiday displays, and challenging state abortion bans by claiming its "abortion ritual" is an essential religious practice protected under state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts.
The Satanic Temple said it hopes to expand its abortion operations into other states as part of its campaign to claim abortion as a religious sacrament protected under the First Amendment and federal law.
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"TST is proud to expand reproductive options for our members. This is just the beginning," said Erin Helian, executive director of campaigns. "We will remain steadfast as we continue the fight to uphold reproductive justice in the United States."
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