New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham: Protecting Babies From Abortion is “Dehumanization”

Opinion   |   Dave Andrusko   |   Mar 1, 2021   |   8:25PM   |   Santa Fe, New Mexico

On Friday an overjoyed pro-abortion Gov. Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 10 into law, making New Mexico, an already very abortion-friendly state, into a wide-open abortion-on-demand haven.

Even by pro-abortion standards, her press release was a head scratcher. After the pro-forma “A woman has the right to make decisions about her own body,” Grisham added, “Anyone who seeks to violate bodily integrity, or to criminalize womanhood, is in the business of dehumanization.”

“Criminalizing womanhood”?

Presumably that is a bizarre reference to the non-enforceable 1969 law which SB 110 repealed.

But, as is the case in all states with laws passed prior to 1973, the statute is not in effect because of Roe v. Wade. Sponsors used the possible reversal of Roe to propose legislation that far exceeds the reach of the decision that overturned the abortion laws of all 50 states.

A passing comment in a story by KRQE added this non-sequitur:

Many supporters of the bill, including Lujan Grisham, believe that ensuring protections for abortion rights in New Mexico will save the lives of people seeking abortion care.

In fact, of course, the law can have only one effect: add to the 3,110 aborted babies the CDC reported for New Mexico in 2018.

The Republican Party of New Mexico had a decidedly different take on the governor’s decision:

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“This is a sad day for New Mexico. When Gov. Lujan Grisham penned her name to Senate Bill 10, she signed a death warrant. She, along with dozens of New Mexico Democratic lawmakers, approved the order to end the lives of thousands of unborn children. The new law is an immoral, dangerous one–a law that allows late-term abortion and offers no protections for girls, women or health professionals. It permits the murder of the unborn, endangers the health and lives of women and eliminates any conscience provision to allow a doctor to opt out if he or she opposes the procedure on moral, ethical or religious grounds.”

Republicans and a handful of Democrats  in the New Mexico House  offered amendments, but, as NRL News Today reported, all were rejected by the legislature which is dominated by pro-abortion Democrats.

“Republican Rep. Rebecca Dow spoke about her own unexpected pregnancy at 19 and hearing a heartbeat during an ultrasound,” Doug McKay of the Albuquerque Journal reported.

“‘It changed the trajectory of my life,’ Dow said. My daughter ‘has been one of the most wonderful things I’ve done — to choose life for her.’”

There was a great deal of conversation about conscience protections which Democrats brushed off as unneeded or already provided for in law.

But “Republicans said the health care decisions act isn’t adequate protection,” McKay reported.

“We are impacting the physicians who have no desire to be a part of this,” Rep. Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, said.

Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, described abortion as “horrific.”

“It’s the issue that will never go away until there’s justice,” she said.

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in his National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.