NM Progressives: Assault on Life at NM Legislature
Senate Democrats Keep Abortion Legal Up to Day of Birth… Again and More
ACTION ALERT: CONTACT YOUR NM LEGISLATOR TODAY
HB 37: VOTE FOR
The Born Alive Infant Protection Act is scheduled for a public hearing before the House Public Affairs Committee on Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 1:30 pm. Plan on attending the hearing, get you talking points here.
HB 171: VOTE NO
The assisted suicide bill, “End of Life Options” Act
was heard this week but AGAIN was not voted on in the House Judiciary Committee. Progressives realized they did not have the votes in the committee stacked with their own, including House Speaker Brian Egolf. They plan to revise the bill again and try to re-introduce at any time.
SB 282: VOTE NO
“Hospital Patient Protections Act” forces hospitals to perform abortions and health care providers to participate in abortions. Read more below.
Contact your NM Senator and Representative by email or phone and tell them to VOTE FOR HB 37 AND AGAINST SB 282, HB 171. Find out more here.
NM Progressives Assault on Life: Unconstitutional and Unconscionable
Last week, the Late-Term Abortion Ban Act, (SB 183) was voted defeated by all 5 senate Democrat progressives before the Senate Public Affairs Committee: Jerry Ortiz y Pino (ABQ-12), Mimi Stewart (ABQ-17), Jeff Steinborn (Las Cruces-36), Bill O’ Neill (ABQ-13) and Liz Stefanics (ABQ-39). Despite heart-wrenching testimony from post-abortive women, a mother who was pressured to have a late-term abortion and pregnancy center workers who help women– the committee voted to keep dangerous and inhumane late-term abortions legal in NM for any reason.
SB 282: Unconstitutional, Forces Christians to Participate in Abortion
“Catholic” Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s and Senator Mimi Stewart’s abortion extremism is on full display, as they are sponsoring a bill, SB 282 that forces Christians to refer for abortions and religiously-affiliated hospitals to perform abortions. National pro-life media and KKOB radio have covered NMAFL’s press release on this extreme measure. See more below.
“State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s pro-abortion extremism is now out in the open,” said NMAFL Executive Director Elisa Martinez. “It was bad enough when Senator Ortiz y Pino used his Catholic faith to justify abortion until the day of birth. Now he wants to force health care providers, including those of his own Catholic faith, to violate their consciences by participating in abortion.”
If signed into law, SB 282 will repeal New Mexico state exemptions for persons and institutions with “moral or religious” objections to abortion. The bill states, “notwithstanding the provisions of any other state law, a hospital shall not refuse to provide a reproductive health service to a patient if withholding the reproductive health service would result in or prolong a serious risk to the patient’s life or health; and where a failure to provide the reproductive health service would violate the medical standard of care owed the patient. “
“New Mexico statute 30-5-2 protects hospitals and individuals from participating in abortion if they have a moral or religious objection,” said Martinez. “SB 282 is actually a double attack – it forces pro-life medical professionals to participate in abortion, and its definitions of ‘standard of care’ and health of the mother are so broad so as to have no meaningful limitations.”
In addition to violating the First Amendment’s right to religious freedom from government coercion, SB 282 violates the Weldon Amendment, according to Martinez and Sharer. The Amendment is a federal law that protects health care providers from being forced to provide abortions.
State Senator Bill Sharer said, “The only reason we still have abortion up to the day of birth today in New Mexico is because “Catholic” Democrat legislators support it and because Catholic leaders are silent. Senate bill 282 will require Catholic healthcare providers to commit mortal sins, which should horrify anyone of good conscience.”
According to Martinez, SB 282 “will force half or more of the health care professionals to leave their practice or lose their license for violating state law.” She accused Ortiz y Pino of misleading his fellow legislators, noting that SB 282 “does not refer to the exemption statute at all, meaning that even pro-life legislators could vote for this life-ending bill without knowing they are repealing the basic constitutional right to religious liberty.” Read more from Live Action here and LifeSite News here.
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