SANTA FE (LifeSiteNews) – The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops last week slammed a bill that would mandate state and local government entities not restrict abortion and so-called “gender-affirming care,” as well as a proposed abortion “clinic” in New Mexico announced by the Satanic Temple.
In a statement issued Tuesday, the conference noted that H.B. 7, or the “Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Freedom Act,“ currently in the New Mexico House of Representatives “is neither about health care nor about freedom, for it denies essential truths about God’s plan for humanity and seeks to supplant God’s vision with the lies and shackles of the Evil One.”
The bishops further noted that “it will force school teachers to facilitate abortions and even promote transgender surgeries among school children. It is, in fact, the most radical bill of its kind in the nation and continues New Mexico’s penchant for rejecting the most vulnerable and weak among us.”
Provisions of H.B. 7 entail that state or local government entities cannot restrict access to abortions and “gender-affirming care.” The bill also allows for the state attorney general, district attorneys, and private citizens to initiate civil action for violations of the bill, and that those found guilty of violating it could face a penalty of $5,000 or equivalent to “actual damages resulting from each violation, whichever is greater” and be forced to pay the legal fees of the initiating party.
The New Mexico House of Representative’s Health and Human Services Committee recently approved the bill.
The bishops also criticized a telehealth abortion mill proposed earlier this month by the Satanic Temple. Discussing the initiative, the bishops stated: “The last thing we need in our state is a Satanic temple from Massachusetts to offer free ‘reproductive health’ services … We shudder to think what the ‘Religious Abortion Ritual’ that they require is all about.”
Earlier this month, the Satanic Temple, an organization based in Salem, Massachusetts, proposed a telehealth abortion mill in New Mexico named for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s mother. The “clinic” would offer free prescriptions for abortion pills for girls and women ages 17 and older and offer abortions up to the 11th week of pregnancy. The group says that it would ship the pills via mail to those who wish to perform its “religious abortion ritual.”
“We, the Catholic Bishops of New Mexico, want to encourage all the faithful of the State of New Mexico, and indeed all men and women of goodwill, to continue to pray and work for a complete end to abortion in our state and in our nation, and for a thorough conversion of hearts to the Gospel of Life,” the bishops concluded. “This coming Lent once again offers us the opportunity to do so as we engage more fervently in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Let us take this yearly season of grace to implore divine assistance as we fight for life, for truth, and, ultimately, for God’s will to be done ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’”
Signatories of the statement include Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, Bishop James Wall of Gallup, Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe, and Allen Sanchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops.
READ: New Mexico bishop explains why abortion promoters like Biden can’t receive Communion
The Satanic Temple has frequently made headlines for explicitly attempting to undercut Christianity in the public square by engaging in controversial and blasphemous activities.
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