New Mexico Senate Passes Bill Legalizing Abortions Up to Birth

State   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Feb 12, 2021   |   12:14PM   |   Santa Fe, New Mexico

After rejecting measures to ban the very latest of late-term abortions and protect doctors from being forced to abort unborn babies, the New Mexico Senate voted Thursday to approve a bill to keep abortions up to birth legal in their state for years to come.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Democrats who control the legislature basically ignored Republicans’ questions and concerns before the vote. The final vote on state Senate Bill 10 was 27-15 with two Democrats joining Republicans in opposing it.

Sponsored by state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Bernalillo, the pro-abortion legislation would repeal a 1969 New Mexico statute 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 The statute is not in effect because of Roe v. Wade, but if it is repealed, the state would continue to allow unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to birth even if Roe is overturned.

The bill also would repeal the only conscience protections for pro-life medical workers in the state. Currently, the statute protects doctors, nurses and other medical workers from discrimination if they refuse to abort an unborn baby based on moral or religious grounds.

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It now moves to the Democrat-controlled state House where it also is expected to pass. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a pro-abortion Democrat, also supports the bill, claiming it “affirms a woman’s self evident autonomy over her own body.”

According to the Farmington Daily Times, Republican lawmakers introduced several amendments and substitute bills, including one that would have banned abortions on unborn babies after 20 weeks and another after 35 weeks. Republican Senators also introduced a conscience protection clause to protect pro-life medical workers from being forced to abort unborn babies.

However, Democrats rejected all of them.

“This is truly a sad day for our state,” said state Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, in a statement after the vote. “In addition to sending a message that unborn children’s lives do not matter, we are weakening standards of care for women and repealing the only abortion-related conscience clause we have.”

Sharer criticized Democrat leaders for refusing to answer any questions and ramming through “exactly what they wanted all along – unrestricted, elective abortion on demand, up to the moment of birth.”

Polls consistently show that most Americans oppose what the bill would do: allow unborn babies to be aborted without limits up to birth, force taxpayers to fund abortions, end conscience protections for medical workers and allow abortion facilities to operate with little accountability.

However, state Democrat lawmakers insist that the legislation is necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Roe v. Wade.

“As long as Roe v. Wade is the law of the land, there was no need to go back and deal with language in our laws that prohibited abortion,” state Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said in a recent interview. “But now that there is a very real possibility that attempts will be made to overturn Roe v. Wade at the federal level, it does make it urgent that we deal with it locally in a way that would preserve that right to choice.”

New Mexico Alliance for Life leaders urged people to keep calling the governor and lawmakers and urge them to reject the pro-abortion bill.

“The radical abortion lobby seeks to force medical professionals across New Mexico to perform abortions as a matter of ‘access.’ This is not a pro-woman bill but rather, a pro-abortion lobby bill,” said executive director Elisa Martinez.

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 year.

ACTION ALERT: Contact New Mexico state lawmakersContact Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.