Santa Fe, NM — Late last night, on a vote of 40 – 29, the radical abortion-up-to-birth HB-51 passed the New Mexico state House of Representatives, despite overwhelming public opposition to the bill. In an outright misrepresentation of fact, Rep. Debbie Armstrong (D – Bernalillo) falsely claimed on local radio and on her personal Twitter account that the bill “has nothing to do with abortion later in pregnancy.” House Minority Whip, Rep. Rod Montoya (R-San Juan) repeatedly asked bill sponsor Rep. Joanne Ferrary (D-Dona Ana) for clear answers on behalf of the thousands of New Mexicans inquiring, as to whether or not her bill “would allow a healthy mom to abort a healthy baby up to the day of delivery.” Ferrary struggled several times to respond and falsely stated at one point that “late-term abortions are only allowed for medical necessity.” She later clarified her position when pressed by Rep. Montoya to admit that the bill would not prohibit elective abortion up to birth. Rep. Montoya also read a policy from the University of New Mexico Hospital, obtained by NMAFL, outlining induction abortions after 24 weeks where infants undergo an intra-cardiac injection. “This procedure used on infants in utero after six months gestation, called an intra-cardiac injection, is outlawed in our animal cruelty statute,” said Montoya. “The reason this procedure is deemed cruel and inhumane to animals is that … it takes up to 24 hours for the baby to die.”
Rep. Gregg Schmedes, who is a physician, questioned Rep. Ferrary on conscience protections, saying, “We are actually changing the ‘status quo’ because we are removing the only explicit abortion-related conscience protections for hospitals and medical professionals.” Rep. Cathrynn Brown closed her floor comment by saying, “Abortion is not health care. It is not treating a diseased condition of the body. What is the difference between a child in the womb and that child once second after birth”?
New Mexico Alliance for Life Executive Director Elisa Martinez released this statement after the vote: “HB-51 is the most extreme bill in the nation because it keeps elective abortion-up-to-birth, and also seeks to force medical professionals to participate in this practice by stripping away explicit conscience protections from the current statute. This bill is a Trojan horse backed by the national abortion lobby in order to establish abortion as a human right by removing so-called ‘religious refusals’ and turn every hospital, clinic and doctor’s office into an abortion clinic or referral center.”
The bill now heads to the New Mexico Senate, where it is expected to be heard in committee as early as Monday in Senate Public Affairs.
Albuquerque clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options’ website actively advertises elective abortions up to 8+ months, and on a case-by-case thereafter. There are no explicit requirements for a “medically necessary” abortion. Democrats who support this bill have ignored the pleas of Tina Atkins to address the concerns most of New Mexicans. She is the mother of the late Keisha Atkins, a patient of SWO, who died after an elective abortion at 6 months. Atkins died from a massive infection she caught in the care of SWO. # # #
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