Stage set for NM abortion law clash
Changes in Legislature, US Supreme Court intensify push
SANTA FE — New Mexico’s criminal abortion law is one of just a few of its kind in the country. But debate over whether to repeal the 1969 statute is expected to intensify at the Roundhouse in the upcoming legislative session, after the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a legislative shake-up cemented by the general election.
A push to remove the law from New Mexico’s books passed the House in 2019 by a 40-29 vote but fell three votes short in the Senate — ultimately being defeated on a 18-24 vote.
Since then, five of the eight Senate Democrats who crossed party lines to vote against the bill lost their reelection bids in last year’s primary. A sixth Democratic senator, Carlos Cisneros, died and has since been replaced.
At least six newly elected Senate Democrats said in response to a Journal questionnaire last year they
support repealing the abortion ban, suggesting the votes could be there to pass the legislation.
Against that backdrop, Democratic Rep. Joanne Ferrary of Las Cruces and Sen. Linda Lopez of Albuquerque have said they will push to repeal New Mexico’s antiabortion law.
“Now more than ever,” Ferrary said, “we need to make sure we can provide this health care not only for New Mexico women, but across the country.”
And Lopez said she will make clear that the legislation is focused only on removing the potential for prosecution of a health care provider, not an attempt to tackle other issues related to abortion.
However, Sen. David Gallegos, a Eunice Republican who previously served in the House, said he and others are prepared to defend New Mexico’s abortion law.
“To me, it just comes down to being principled,” Gallegos said. “In all reality, we seem to focus more on the value of a minimum wage increase than we do the value of life.”
And Elisa Martinez, founder and executive director of New Mexico Alliance for Life, said New Mexico has so few other abortion laws that it’s a destination for women seeking late-term abortions.
The state law at issue makes it a crime for an abortion provider to end a woman’s pregnancy, except in certain circumstances, such as rape or grave threats to the woman’s health. The procedure, under the law, is also limited to hospitals and must be approved in writing by a hospital board.
The statute, however, is largely unenforceable because the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision established a nationwide right to abortion in 1973.
Ellie Rushforth, reproductive rights counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said she believes the state law also violates the New Mexico Constitution, which guarantees equal legal rights regardless of sex.
But that wouldn’t necessarily stop an antiabortion prosecutor from pursuing charges, she said, especially if the Supreme Court alters the legal landscape.
The makeup of the Supreme Court has indeed changed with the November confirmation of conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to succeed Ginsburg.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat and former state health secretary, has made repealing the abortion law a priority since her 2018 election and suggested the possibility of Supreme Court action only lends more urgency to the push.
She told attendees at a Planned Parenthood event last year the long-dormant abortion law would be repealed as soon as there are enough votes in the Senate to do so.
“The second we have the votes in the Senate, that antiquated, absolutely outrageous law is gone,” Lujan Grisham said.