Late-term abortion bill needs a hearing
Lawmakers need to stop tabling the bill in Senate committee
During my more than 50 years reporting and anchoring news on New Mexico television, I steered clear of taking public positions on controversial issues. I’m still inclined to keep my opinions to myself, but sometimes an issue is so important that staying silent is not possible. Late-term abortion is such an issue.
To be fair and frank, my opposition to abortion is based on my religious faith. I am very much a believing Catholic. But I understand that in our pluralistic society where there are so many other beliefs and so much unbelief, religious arguments against abortion often fall on deaf ears. I do believe that life begins at conception. But I recognize that others hold sharply different opinions.
However, that’s not what this is about. This is about late-term abortion, which is much more than a matter of religious belief. It is irrefutably a human-rights issue. Scientific developments have made it very clear that many, if not most, unborn children aborted in the third trimester are in every respect human beings with full brain function and full physical viability outside the womb. They are truly persons, but under current New Mexico law they can legally be killed right up until the moment of birth. All of us, especially the people who make our laws, have a strong obligation to protect all human life.
For years now bills have been introduced in the state Legislature to ban late-term abortion. For years those bills have been deliberately referred to the Senate Public Affairs Committee, where there is a built-in pro-choice majority. For years that majority has voted to table the bills, effectively ending their chances of passage. Many legislative observers believe that if a bill to ban late-term abortion ever came to the floor there are enough votes to pass it. But under the system set up by the majority party in the Senate, committee results are de facto final. So there’s never a floor vote, and senators are never put in the public spotlight on this issue.
Once again this year the Public Affairs Committee, on a 5-3 party line vote, has tabled the bill — SB 183, Partial and Late-Term Abortion ban. Once again because of the way the system is set up, it is nearly impossible to blast it out of committee for an on-the-record vote by all 42 senators. This truly is a matter of life and death, and all lawmakers in both houses need to stand up and be counted. What are they afraid of?