Reproductive health care center plans in Las Cruces move forward

UNM regents OK land acquisition for facility to provide gender-affirming care, abortions in Doña Ana County

The University of New Mexico Board of Regents has approved the acquisition of land for a full-spectrum reproductive health care center that will include abortion care in Doña Ana County.

The board voted 6-1 Thursday to move forward with the purchase of land, according to a news release. Charlene Bencomo, executive director of Bold Futures, told NM Political Report the goal is to have the reproductive health care center open to see patients by October 2025.

The project, called the Reproductive Healthcare Success Project, is a collaboration of Bold Futures, UNM Health Sciences Center, Strong Families and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Bencomo said the four groups are still working out who will run the center and are in discussions with the New Mexico Doula Association.

To acquire the land and construct the building, UNM is using $10 million allocated by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, which was approved by the Legislature in 2023 despite an effort to block it by Republicans, Bencomo said.

Bencomo said the center will provide a full spectrum of reproductive health care, including abortion and gender-affirming care. She said due to the center’s location, it will likely attract patients coming from Texas and other states and more rural areas of Southern New Mexico as well as residents of Las Cruces.

The center is a part of the changing landscape of reproductive care in New Mexico and the nation since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, prompting many red states to ban or severely restrict abortion while blue states like New Mexico have seen a growth in abortion providers and passed laws protecting abortion rights.

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains expanded its abortion care in New Mexico to include medication abortion in its Farmington clinic, and the organization opened a brick-andmortar clinic in Las Cruces last year.

Bencomo said the clinic has been needed in Southern New Mexico for a long time. She said the center will deliver care with a holistic approach focused on good outcomes for both patients and providers.

An example of that is having doula care available for patients in the future clinic. Bencomo said doulas can assist with more than birthing. They can help bridge language barriers and provide assistance in explaining medical information to patients, which frees time for the provider to see another patient but allows the patients to get the information they need about their care.

Bencomo said the group has not picked a location for the clinic, but they are looking for one that will be accessible by public transportation. Security will also be considered.

Eve Espey, UNM’s OB-GYN department chair, said the department is excited to be a part of the project.

“We are dedicated to reducing health inequities across our state,” she said in the news release.

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains said in a statement it is honored to be participating in the project.

“We take our responsibility to steward these funds seriously, knowing that high levels of transparency and collaboration often result in longer time frames. We prioritize these values over moving too quickly through this one-of-a-kind community-led endeavor,“Adrienne Mansanares, president and chief executive officer, said through the release.

Marshall Martinez, executive director of Equality New Mexico, told NM Political Report that having a full-spectrum reproductive center in Las Cruces is important to the LGBTQ+ community. It

will give people living in Southern New Mexico access to care that is closer to home and make it easier for people in Texas, which has banned gender-affirming care for minors, to access such care, he said.

Martinez also said having gender-affirming care available in Las Cruces will make it easier for undocumented immigrants to receive health care due to border checkpoints along the route to Albuquerque.

“A good percentage of asylum seekers from Central and South American countries seek asylum here because their lives are in danger as queer people,” he said. “We have to think about everything we can do to reduce the harm to them.”