A New Mexico Democrat introduced legislation Friday to thwart local cities’ efforts to protect unborn babies from abortion.
Reuters reports state Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said she wrote the bill after two cities, Hobbs and Clovis, passed ordinances to stop Texas abortion facilities from moving into their communities. Two counties along the Texas-New Mexico border also passed similar ordinances.
Her pro-abortion legislation, the Reproductive Health Care Freedom Act, would ban local governments from “denying, restricting or discriminating against an individual’s right to use or refuse reproductive health care,” according to a press release from Serrato’s office.
The AP reports the bill still is being drafted but already has the support of Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, and others.
“It’s time we take big steps to transform our state. And to reach these goals, I believe we need to begin by investing in our families and protecting their bodily autonomy,” Serrato said last week in a video message to constituents.
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But many New Mexico residents believe unborn babies are part of the family and deserve to be protected, too. They do not want their communities to become travel destinations to abort unborn babies.
Last year, when Texas began enforcing its abortion ban, abortion businesses began eyeing cities across the New Mexico border as new locations. Abortions are legal for any reason up to birth in New Mexico, which makes it easy for abortion facilities to do a lucrative business killing babies in the womb.
To protect their communities, pro-life residents have been urging their city and county leaders to pass ordinances to stop the abortion industry from moving there. So far, the cities of Hobbs and Clovis and Roosevelt County and Lea County have taken action.
Each passed a similar ordinance that requires abortion providers to follow a federal law that prohibits abortion-inducing drugs and devices from being shipped or received. The ordinance puts enforcement in the hands of private citizens, allowing them to sue abortionists for violations.
Earlier this month when Roosevelt County passed its ordinance, Mark Lee Dickson, director with Right to Life of East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary City for the Unborn movement, told LifeNews that the legislation functions as a kind of “de facto” ban on abortions.
“By requiring any abortion provider … to comply with federal laws on abortion prohibiting the mailing or receiving of any abortion-inducing drugs or abortion-related paraphernalia, the ordinance makes it impossible for any abortion facility to function legally – even if they were to get their equipment or pharmaceuticals from elsewhere within the state,” Dickson explained.
However, he expressed hope that Serrato’s pro-abortion efforts will fail, noting how the ordinances require compliance with federal statutes.
“The New Mexico Legislature does not have the ability to repeal federal laws – regardless of how much they may not like them,” Dickson wrote at Live Action News this week.
Other cities across the country also are considering ordinances to protect unborn babies from abortion this winter.
To-date, 64 cities in Texas, Ohio, Nebraska, Louisiana, Iowa and New Mexico have passed Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinances that protect unborn babies by banning or restricting abortions within city limits. Two New Mexico counties also passed ordinances to protect unborn babies from abortion.
Other cities and counties have passed pro-life resolutions, which are statements of support but not enforceable law, that recognize unborn babies’ right to life. In Arkansas, 19 counties and 10 cities and towns have passed pro-life resolutions, according to Family Council of Arkansas. Several North Carolina counties passed pro-life resolutions recently, too, and the New Mexico county commissioners of Otero approved a resolution in July condemning the pro-abortion laws in their state.
