In honor of Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito—who last year penned the majority opinion overturning the constitutional right to reproductive freedom—the Satanic Temple officially opened the “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic.”
The idea behind the clinic's name is simple.
The Satanic Temple—contrary to protesters' allegations it promotes Satanism and is a detriment to the nation's youth—is a nontheistic human rights group whose website states the organization "promotes egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of religion and state."
In its official announcement, the organization said the telehealth clinic "will provide medical abortion medication through the mail to those who wish to perform TST’s Religious Abortion Ritual" and stressed it is "committed to protecting bodily autonomy, assuring religious abortion access, and providing free quality care.”
\u201cTST Health is proud to announce the launch of Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic in New Mexico. TST Health believes in honoring those, like the clinic's namesake, who couldn't choose legal abortion, no matter how much they may have wanted to.\u2935\ufe0f https://t.co/a4U0wodhyB\u201d— The Satanic Temple (@The Satanic Temple) 1675356317
The clinic will offer low-cost abortion medication to patients in New Mexico while providing screenings and follow-ups for free to all. The cost of medication is only $90 when accessed through the clinic, which will be staffed by licensed medical professionals and have a 24-hour on-call patient hotline.
The organization's website says it will help those “who need assistance to travel to New Mexico when possible.” The location itself was chosen because New Mexico borders a number of red states with some of the toughest abortion restrictions in the country.
The group said laws which impede its Religious Abortion Ritual—which is intended to “de-stigmatize this medical procedure”—violate the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which safeguard its beliefs in bodily autonomy for all.
Many celebrated the move and applauded the group's deliciously unsubtle trolling of Alito.
\u201cGod bless the Satanic Temple, which not only has the sanctity of individual reproductive choices as a key tenet, but has the grace to establish a clinic in New Mexico and to name it the Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic. #reproductiverights #AbortionRights\u201d— Nell Minow (she/her) @nminow@c.im (@Nell Minow (she/her) @nminow@c.im) 1675395589
\u201c10 outta 10. No notes.\ud83d\ude02\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd18\ud83c\udffb\n\n\u2018The Samuel Alito\u2019s Mom\u2019s Satanic Abortion Clinic.\u2019\u201d— Hadley Sheley (@Hadley Sheley) 1675655105
\u201c\u201cThe Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic\u201d \ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23 At least they have one hell of a sense of humor\u201d— \ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f\ud83d\udda4Puck the Magic Dragon\ud83d\udda4\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f (@\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f\ud83d\udda4Puck the Magic Dragon\ud83d\udda4\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f) 1675655201
\u201cThe Satanic Temple in New Mexico is opening an abortion clinic and calling it "The Samuel Alito\u2019s Mom\u2019s Satanic Abortion Clinic" after the mother of the SC Justice who authored the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade and I'm dying at the shade if it all \ud83d\ude02\u201d— \ud83c\udd42\ud83c\udd48\ud83c\udd3b\ud83c\udd45\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd34 (@\ud83c\udd42\ud83c\udd48\ud83c\udd3b\ud83c\udd45\ud83c\udd38\ud83c\udd34) 1675269635
\u201cThe Satanic Temple (TST) is opening a free abortion clinic in New Mexico, and it's brilliantly named.\n\nSamuel Alito\u2019s Mom\u2019s Satanic Abortion Clinic \n\nF'ing brilliant!\n\nhttps://t.co/I32uXrwEuP\u201d— Edelwei\u00dfpirat- \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\u042f \u0437 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u043e\u044e\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Edelwei\u00dfpirat- \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\u042f \u0437 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043d\u043e\u044e\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1675650375
\u201cThe Samuel Alito\u2019s Mom\u2019s Satanic Abortion Clinic in mockery of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.\n\nI love the style of the @satanic_temple_ not only opening an abortion clinic under religious protection but to mic drop the name!\u201d— I\u2019ll be your Huckleberry \u201cSchr\u00f6dinger\u201d (@I\u2019ll be your Huckleberry \u201cSchr\u00f6dinger\u201d) 1675674221
\u201cAward for coolest abortion clinic:\n\nThe Samuel Alito\u2019s Mom\u2019s Satanic Abortion Clinic\n\nOfficial statement: \u201cIn 1950, Samuel Alito\u2019s mother did not have options, and look what happened,"\n\nhttps://t.co/CgOymUz9PU\u201d— Southpaw Leftist (@Southpaw Leftist) 1675707307
\u201cThe Satanic Temple is opening a clinic in NM and naming it "The Samuel Alito\u2019s Mom\u2019s Satanic Abortion Clinic".\ud83d\ude05\n\nThey're truly doing the Lord's work y'all.\ud83d\ude0f\nhttps://t.co/JSZxd5yTBS\u201d— \u1e43\u0456\u1e62\u03fe\u1e25\u1ea1\ud83c\udf37 (@\u1e43\u0456\u1e62\u03fe\u1e25\u1ea1\ud83c\udf37) 1675395976
No word on what Justice Alito thinks of the clinic's name just yet though his majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization continues to be contested in court.
This week, a federal judge argued the federal right to an abortion might still be protected by the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, raising the question of whether the Supreme Court’s decision is limited to 14th Amendment grounds.
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her order that the 13th Amendment “has received substantial attention among scholars and, briefly, in one federal Court of Appeals decision," citing a paper by Andrew Koppelman, a Northwestern University School of Law professor who suggested the 13th Amendment's prohibition against involuntary servitude provides a textual basis for preserving the right to an abortion.
