Albuquerque, NM–Late Saturday afternoon, the New Mexico Senate Public Affairs Committee passed the “most extreme abortion bill in the nation,” HB 51on a party-line vote of 4-2. Pro-life Republican, Sen. Craig Brandt was excused and did not cast a vote. Two of the four Democrat Senators who voted for the radical bill, Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino (D-12) and Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-16) invoked their “Catholic faith” as a reason for supporting the abortion up-to-birth and infanticide bill, that also strips the only abortion-specific conscience protection, ( NMSA 30-5-2) from state law. “I am a practicing Catholic,” stated Sen. Ortiz y Pino. “It is my position that a woman has a right to her own choice. It’s between her and God and her conscience.” Ortiz y Pino made similar statements about his Catholic faith, before voting against a ban on elective abortion after 5 months in previous years’ committee hearings.
Yesterday, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who also claims to be a Catholic, penned an op-ed in the Albuquerque Journal criticizing the majority of New Mexicans (70%) who oppose the radical aspects of the measure, including abortion up-to-birth for any reason.
“Opponents have expressed fear that, somehow, this legislation would facilitate murder,” said Lujan-Grisham. “Elected officials have no business making a woman’s choices for her. Neither do faraway federal judges who have, in some cases, made a career out of antagonizing marginalized groups, not the least of all women.”
“If the Governor is so concerned with legislative overreach, why is she supporting a bill the majority of New Mexicans oppose, that would remove parental involvement in a minor’s abortion, force medical professionals to participate in abortions, and continue the practice of unregulated, forced taxpayer funding of abortion up-to-birth for any reason,” said Elisa Martinez, New Mexico Alliance for Life Executive Director.
Dr. William Moore, a practicing OB-GYN from Clovis, NM expressed concerns on behalf of physicians across the state, ” HB-51 would have a devastating impact on rural New Mexico. In my practice, many doctors have promised they will leave New Mexico if forced or coerced to perform abortions, we are the only women’s health care practice in 100 mile radius around Clovis– and the only ones delivering babies there.”
HB-51 passed the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Saturday on a party-line vote of 4-2, with only 15 minutes of public testimony allowed on both sides, despite nearly a hundred indivduals who traveled to Santa Fe to testify in opposition. The radical bill advances to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it awaits a scheduled hearing before a Democrat majority.
New Mexico Alliance for Life is “encouraged by the overwhelming public outcry against HB-51, and will continue to fight tirelessly to secure the safety of every woman, child, and doctor from further harm from the dangerous abortion industry,” said Martinez. “We know the majority of New Mexicans are horrified at this radical mesaure, and our elected officials can no longer turn a blind eye to these concerns.”
In January 2019 alone, New Mexico Alliance for Life has confirmed 2 medical emergencies at the late-term abortion clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque, for a total of 19 since 2014, including the death of Keisha Atkins and her 6 month old baby. Atkins died from a massive infection she contracted under the care of the clinic’s abortionists, the source of the deadly infection has never been investigated nor identified by NM state officials.
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