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Bi-partisan coalition defeats New Mexico abortion bill

Mar 18, 2019

By Dave Andrusko

Pro-abortion N.M. Gov.Michelle Lujan Grisham

In what was supposed to be a shoo-in turned into an unexpected disaster for pro-abortionists in New Mexico last week.

A bill ostensibly confined to repealing an unenforced 1969 law and “codifying Roe” had already easily passed the House, 40-29, and two Senate committees when it went down in flames on Thursday.

The vote against of 24-18 was a shocker. Democrats control the state Senate and the new pro-abortion governor had already written what NRL News Today characterized as a “premature victory lap” op-ed piece.

But eight Democrats crossed over party lines, joining 16 Republicans, and H.B. 51 went down to an ignominious defeat. Washington Times reporter Valerie Richardson characterized the vote as “handing a win to the pro-life movement and a stinging defeat to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on one of her signature issues.”

Lost in the shuffle was that the defeat on abortion followed a defeat on assisted suicide earlier last week. Gov. Grisham had made it clear she would sign HB 90 as well.

Perhaps that explains some of Gov. Grisham’s bitterness at the vote on H.B. 51. “Health care decisions are the sole province of an individual, her family, her doctor and her faith. Fear of the law has no place in the equation,” she said in a statement.

“This old, outdated statute criminalizing health care providers is an embarrassment,” the governor continued. “That removing it was even a debate, much less a difficult vote for some senators, is inexplicable to me.”

Sen. Gabriel Ramos, a Silver City Democrat, said prior to the vote, “This is one of the toughest decisions any of us will ever have to make,” adding, “I stand unified against legislation that weakens the defense of life and threatens the dignity of the human being.”

The state of New Mexico “must strive to protect and uphold the dignity of all people from conception to death,” Ramos concluded.

Richardson correctly noted that foes of H.B. 51

saw the measure as far more radical, threatening to remove the state’s conscience protection for medical professionals who object to performing or participating in abortions, and enshrining into law the state’s no-limits status quo.

In that vein, worth noting is the House version did not protect people from being forced into participating in abortions. The Senate version kept the conscious protection in.

Categories: Legislation