Thursday, March 19, 2015Dear Friends,
Only two days remain before the gavel comes down on this session of the 52nd New Mexico State Legislature. The two bills we have been following, the Late Term Abortion Ban and the Parental Notification of Abortion Act, have reached a termination point for this session according to legislative procedures.
The bills have passed the House and were sent to the Senate Public Affairs Committee. The committee tabled both bills, which effectively ends their
forward progress.
For the bills to progress from this point, three things must occur. First, the Senate
Majority Leader, Michael Sanchez, must allow the bills to be placed on the agenda. Secondly, the Senate must agree to hear the bills, a process called “blasting.” Blasting rarely occurs as it is seen as negating the committee process which legislators, for various reasons, revere. And lastly, the bills must be debated and voted into law.
Early in the life of these bills, on February 12, 2015, five pro-life Senators wrote a letter to Senator Sanchez asking that the legislation be moved to the Senate floor in a similar move called the “Committee of the Whole.”
Unless Senator Sanchez in his capacity as Senate Majority Leader and the Senate engage in bringing these bills forward, they will not proceed.
Please, pray these three things occur in the next two days: the bills are placed on the agenda, the vote to blast is successful, the bills are debated and passed.
God bless our New Mexico State Legislature today.
New Mexico Watchman, Jose Vasquez
“But Jesus said, suffer little children, and forbid them not,
to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 19:14
