New Mexico Bill Would Legalize Killing Babies in Abortions Up to Birth

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jan 6, 2021   |   8:15PM   |   Albuquerque, New Mexico

A radical pro-abortion bill that would repeal conscience protections for pro-life medical workers and keep abortions up to birth legal in New Mexico is back in the state legislature.

State Sen. Carrie Hamblen, D-Las Cruces, said the bill is one of her top priorities this year because of the new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Las Cruces Sun News reports.

“If they strike down Roe v. Wade, that [state] law that we’ve had since 1969 goes into effect,” Hamblen said. “I think we have a responsibility as legislators to put things in place that protect New Mexico residents. That law needs to be removed.”

Sponsored by state Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, state House Bill 51 would repeal a 1969 law that prohibits abortions except in cases of rape, incest or threats to the mother’s life. The statute is not in effect because of Roe v. Wade; but if it is repealed, New Mexico would allow unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to birth even if Roe is overturned.

The bill also would repeal conscience protections for medical professionals who believe it is wrong to abort unborn babies.

ACTION ALERT: Contact New Mexico state lawmakers and urge them to oppose the bill.

Back in 2019, a bipartisan group of lawmakers defeated the pro-abortion bill in the state Senate. However, many of the Democrat lawmakers who voted against it no longer serve in the legislature, according to the report.

Ferrary told the newspaper that she stands behind her original bill, including ending conscience protections for pro-life medical workers. To her, killing unborn babies in abortions is “health care.”

“We need New Mexico women to know that we support their full health-care options,” Ferrary said. “We just want to make sure that women get that message.”

But New Mexico Alliance for Life slammed the bill as dangerous for women and children.

“HB-51 does not protect women,” the pro-life organization states on its website. It “keeps dangerous, late-term abortions up to birth legal for any reason. The risk of death or serious injury to women increases to 89-times in abortions after five months.”

According to the organization, the bill also would get rid of the only state conscience law that protects doctors and nurses from being forced to participate in aborting unborn babies. The organization referred to a poll that found 72 percent of New Mexicans support conscience protections for pro-life medical professionals.

New Mexico is one of a handful of states that already allows abortions up to birth by placing no limits on late-term abortions.

In 2019, one of the women who testified against the bill was Tina Atkins, the mother of a young woman who died along with her unborn baby after a late-term abortion at Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque.

“How can anyone sit here and tell me that HB-51 will grant access to safe abortions when my daughter is dead from an abortion?” Atkins asked a House committee at the time. “It is widely published in medical journals that after five months of pregnancy, a woman has an 89 times greater risk of death than earlier abortions.”

Atkins is suing the abortion facility for allegedly killing her daughter, Keisha, in a botched abortion.

The bill is similar to laws that passed recently in New YorkVermont, Massachusetts and Rhode IslandNew Jersey also is considering a bill to expand the killing of unborn babies in abortions this January.

ACTION ALERT: Contact New Mexico state lawmakers and urge them to oppose the bill.