Satanic Temple offers free online 'religious abortion ritual' in New Mexico

The Satanic Temple in New Mexico is offering what it calls a free online "religious abortion ritual" that will mail abortifacients to women in the state after completing a telehealth video appointment.   

The online clinic, named "Samuel Alito's Mom's Satanic Abortion Clinic" after conservative Supreme Court Justice Alito, will only have patients pay a pharmacy for their medication, but all other services will be free, the Satanic Temple said on its website.

"The Satanic Abortion Ritual is a destruction ritual that serves as a protective rite," the temple said in a description of the ritual. "Its purpose is to cast off notions of guilt, shame, and mental discomfort that a patient may be experiencing due to choosing to have a legal and medically safe abortion."

The group said its goal is not to convince a woman to have an abortion, but rather 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 Satanists strive to embody."

The medication abortions are only offered to people in New Mexico, but the temple said it will assist in paying for travel to the state if needed.

The standard abortion package will cost $90, including abortion pills, nausea medication, pregnancy tests and ibuprofen, the temple states.

In order to qualify, women must complete an online screening and review information on the temple's abortion ritual and then undergo a telehealth video appointment before receiving the abortifacient.