Sen. Shelley Hughes, a conservative in the Alaska Legislature for District M, was shocked to get a letter from the Satanic Temple in Salem, Mass.
The letter thanked her because a donation had been made to the satanic center in her name. The letter said that the donation would go toward the group’s “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Satanic Abortion Clinic,” which provides satanic abortion rituals. The “clinic” mails abortion medication to people who “wish to perform The Satanic Temple’s Religious Abortion Ritual.”
Hughes, who represents one of the most conservative parts of the state and has been in the Legislature since 2013, was taken aback by the brazen act. She is known as very pro-life.
On the other hand, her heart was not that troubled. She figures she must be over the target.
“I’ve always liked the Joanne Clancy saying, ‘Be the kind of woman who, when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says Oh, no! She’s up.’ And that’s the kind of advocate I always hope to be for the people of Alaska,” she said.
Naming the abortion clinic after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito’s mother is beyond the pale, Hughes said.
Hughes added that if people feel so moved, they could counter the donation made in her name by tithing to a good cause in Alaska, such as a church; pro-life pregnancy support center; MyHouse, for homeless youth in the MatSu Valley; or Downtown Hope Center in Anchorage, which supports homeless people with meals, and provides safe places for women who are homeless to sleep.
“There are many good causes to contribute to in Alaska,” Sen. Hughes said. “The kind and caring people of Alaska are working to make the world a better place.”
The Satanic Temple, which is a political organization that is pro-abortion, was given the same same tax-exempt status as churches by the IRS in 2019.
In addition to promoting a type of child sacrifice as a religious ritual, the group works to defeat conservatives at the ballot box, and has chapters across the country that have been successful at putting an end to invocations at the outset of public meetings, by insisting that “Hail, Satan” priests must be permitted to pray aloud, if other spiritual leaders, such as pastors and rabbis, are permitted.
