Large Texas abortion provider will relocate to New Mexico - Associated Press
One of the largest abortion providers in Texas is planning to move its operations to New Mexico and another provider that offers tele-health services related to abortion and reproductive health care is expanding its footprint in the state.
Austin-based Whole Woman's Health began winding down its Texas operations after a ruling Friday by the Texas Supreme Court forced an end to abortions in that state. Now, the provider wants to establish a new clinic in a New Mexico city near the state line to provide first and second trimester abortions.
Home to a Democratic-led legislature and governor, New Mexico recently took an extra step to protect providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions. It's likely to continue to experience a steady influx of people seeking abortions from neighboring states with more restrictive abortion laws.
Whole Woman's Health has started a fundraising effort to help with the costs of moving equipment and supplies from Texas to New Mexico and for the purchase of a building to serve as its new home.
"With the shuttering of our four Texas clinics, we do not have the financial reserves to open in New Mexico without community support," Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman's Health, said in a statement.
Officials with Mississippi's only abortion clinic also have plans to relocate to southern New Mexico and the tele-health provider Choix, based in San Francisco, announced Wednesday that it is now licensed to operate in New Mexico and plans to serve all states where abortion care remains legal by the end of 2023.
New Mexico lawmakers last year repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures as felonies, thus ensuring access to abortion even after the federal court rolled back guarantees.
The state's largest city, Albuquerque, is home to one of only a few independent clinics in the country that perform abortions in the third trimester without conditions.
An abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, is just a mile from the state line with Texas near El Paso.
New Mexico governor withstands lawsuits over pandemic orders - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
New Mexico residents who say they endured constitutional rights violations, depression and anxiety under aggressive public health restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak have abandoned a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham after most allegations were dismissed by a judge.
The move came after a string of adverse rulings in state and federal courts for plaintiffs in several lawsuits that challenged the authority of the Democratic governor and state health officials to impose public health restrictions, such as mask mandates, that were phased out earlier this year.
New Mexico imposed some of the most aggressive public health restrictions in the U.S. during the pandemic — mandating face masks, halting in-person activity at nonessential businesses and allowing public schools to suspend in-person classroom teaching for about a year. The orders withstood repeated legal challenges.
Attorney Jonathan Diener said Tuesday that a dozen plaintiffs dropped their lawsuit against Lujan Grisham and state health officials after a federal magistrate judge last week dismissed most of their claims.
The plaintiffs included a pet food business in Rio Rancho, a martial arts studio in Bernalillo, a restaurant in Silver City and a member of an Albuquerque-based megachurch. The lawsuit sought to limit future public health emergency declarations.
Diener said the lawsuit no longer appeared viable, though the federal judge had allowed claims to move forward about possible infringements on religious freedoms during the state's initial shutdown of in-person gatherings at churches and other places of worship.
One plaintiff, a member of the Albuquerque-based Calvery Chapel, alleged that she was denied expression of her religious beliefs and that she suffered depression and anxiety set in from social isolation during the pandemic.
Three lawsuits against Lujan Grisham and her public health orders are still pending in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
New Mexico state judges have consistently backed the governor's authority to impose broad public health orders.
The New Mexico Supreme Court in August 2020 affirmed the authority of the state health secretary to restrict or close businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic, rejecting assertions that a temporary ban on indoor dining services was arbitrary and capricious.
In June 2021, the state's top court ruled that there is no constitutional or statutory requirement to compensate businesses for financial losses caused by emergency public health orders.
Allegations of economic hardship under the orders were blunted somewhat by billions of dollars in federal and state aid that was funneled to New Mexico residents and businesses to sustain payrolls and unemployment payments without corresponding tax increases.
The New Mexico Supreme Court also has ruled that the Legislature was allowed to restrict in-person access to the state Capitol due to the pandemic.
Pandemic prompts health equity changes - Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
Informed by the years long pandemic, a panel looking to shape the big picture of public health in New Mexico is zeroing in on knocking down barriers to care and health, tackling systemic racism and climate change.
That means looking at what programs are funded, who works on them and where resources are allocated, according to the Public Health Task Force created in 2021 by the Legislature. It could also mean better funding the state’s Epidemiology Division, where nearly one-third of the positions are vacant.
Members are seeking public input by July 15.
The goal is to boost health equity long-term through better communication with the public, a more diverse work force, and data-driven policies that counter systemic racism, according to a 27-page draft report containing a dozen recommendations about how health practices and messaging should change in New Mexico.
From the report: “The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to highlight the importance of investing in public health infrastructure, as well as the need to address the causes of long-standing health inequities, such as structural racism and historical mistrust that have led to COVID-19 disproportionately affecting Native American, Hispanic/Latinx, and African American populations, as well as those living in poverty.”
A measure passed by the Legislature in 2021 required the state’s Department of Health to bring together a group of people to come up with ways to improve the public health infrastructure — vaccinations, chronic disease prevention programs, emergency preparedness efforts, staff, data, and agencies that can understand and respond to public health needs.
After some delays, that task force formed in September with 29 members. They’ve met every other week since then.
Now, they are trying to get feedback on a draft of their suggestions for making things better. They’ll submit final recommendations to the Governor’s Office and the Legislature in the summer.
According to the report, DOH is considering establishing a Public Health Advisory Committee to guide changes that stem from the report. This would be a way for DOH to determine if the recommendations are working.
It is important for the community to provide input on the draft report because public health matters to everyone, said Shelley Mann-Lev, a member of the task force and the immediate past president of the New Mexico Public Health Association.
It’s an opportunity for people to read what public health leaders are proposing to change in terms of policy and funding, and to tell them if they want to go in a different direction, she said.
“Or maybe they think there’s something missing,” she said, “maybe something deeply impacting their community, that they feel like hasn’t been addressed in this report.”
People bring their own expertise, concerns, needs and passions, Mann-Lev said, and this is an opportunity to advocate for those.
And people often feel disconnected from decisions that get made for them, said Enrique Cardiel, a member of the task force and executive director of the Bernalillo County Health Equity Council.
“I think that is, in and of itself, why people don’t engage, because decisions have been made for them,” said Cardiel, who is also running for a seat in the Legislature this year.
A sense of agency is a factor in public health, Cardiel said, and people that are most impacted need to be a part of the conversation.
One the public comment period ends mid-month, the task force’s work will then go into decisions made by state lawmakers, Mann-Lev said.
“As people read this report, and there are particular recommendations that are of interest to them, they can let their legislators know that they want to see these implemented,” she said.
The task force came up with a dozen suggestions, but only four of them are directly tied to funding requests that will go to the Governor’s Office and the Legislature.
HEALTH COUNCILS
Lawmakers would create “a sustained, adequate funding stream” for local health councils.
Those councils already exist around New Mexico, but a state law enacted in 2019 requires them to report on shortcomings in local health systems, come up with strategies to address them, and offer advice to counties and tribes. The task force’s recommendation here is simply to enforce the law.
This means creating a set of best practices for health councils, increasing the minimum state funding for them from $100,000 to $125,000, setting aside money so their staff can get training, and figuring out what money controlled by DOH, including Medicaid, can be used by the councils to get large grants.
BUILDING TRUST
Officials should communicate with the public about public health in a way that fosters trust and transparency, and is appropriate for everyone in the state across different cultures and languages, according to the task force.
This means changing public health messaging so that it informs and educates people about how public health is a collective vision to recognize racism as a root cause of health inequities and to take action to counter it.
It also means ensuring that messaging is not just in English; getting more people educated in public health working on that messaging; and addressing misinformation and disinformation, both online and offline.
DIVERSITY AND CROSS-DISCIPLINE KNOWLEDGE
The work force and its leaders should be more competent across multiple public health disciplines and represent more communities from throughout the state.
This means figuring out whether there is enough high-quality housing for health workers in rural areas, adding more high school programs to introduce young people to public health, more money for public health and medical professionals to get credentials like bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees and doctorates, increasing public health workers’ salaries at all levels, connecting workers to mentors, and getting more nurses and social workers in schools.
The task force also recommends recruiting and retaining more permanent staff at DOH rather than temporary contractors.
For example, DOH’s Epidemiology Division has 338 total positions with 94 of those vacant, KUNM reports.
Mann-Lev said DOH’s funding was decimated after the recession that followed the 2008 crash.
“That funding has never really been restored,” Mann-Lev said. “We have way too many vacancies, as along with every public health agency in the nation.”
CLIMATE CHANGE
The fourth recommendation is for DOH and the Legislature to fund for a “Climate and Health Program” to address global warming as a health hazard.
That means tracking how climate change affects our health, tying state laws and money to climate health data, and bringing together climate research and health research rather than keeping them separate.
It also means directing climate-related funding to the most impacted communities first, including Indigenous communities, ensuring policy recommendations come from subject matter experts, and that emergency and disaster response include local health councils.
Mann-Lev said this could look like setting up public places to cool down called cooling centers, or ensuring that vulnerable populations like children and elderly people have air purifiers.
“There’s so many things that need to be done and can be done so that people will suffer less from the climate events that are impacting us,” Mann-Lev said. “We don’t have to look farther than — or breathe farther — than our wildfires, or the increasing number of extreme heat days that we’re experiencing in so many places.”
Albuquerque revisiting how it addresses homeless encampments - Associated Press
The mayor of New Mexico's largest city says his administration is revisiting how it addresses homeless encampments.
Coronado Park, located north of downtown Albuquerque, hosts a large group of regular campers and requires biweekly cleanups.
Amid increasing criticism from the public and some city councilors about unsanctioned camp sites, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said the current situation at Coronado Park is unacceptable and his administration is looking toward a new approach to the dozens of unhoused people who sleep there.
However, the Albuquerque Journal reports Keller's administration has not determined the exact framework it wants to pursue.
"We know we need to get our ducks in a row. It is extremely dangerous for our officers, for our civilians, for the unsheltered and for taxpayer funding because of litigation, to make a rash decision about how we handle Coronado," Keller told the Journal.
City Councilman Louie Sanchez said Keller's administration is totally ignoring what the citizens of Albuquerque are demanding.
Keller administration officials said homelessness is a complex problem with resource and legal considerations and the encampment problem is not unique to Albuquerque.
Roads flooded, barn damaged, but not ‘worst-case scenario’ yet in the burn scar, reports indicate - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The National Weather Service got at least seven reports of flooding over the weekend in the scar of the biggest fire in state history.
Residents of northern New Mexico have been watching rain clouds with a sense of dread since the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon wildfire burned more than 340,000 acres of the Santa Fe National Forest since April.
The fire, thanks in part to monsoon rains, is 93% contained.
But rain is a blessing and a curse. Soils that went through high-intensity burn can’t absorb moisture, so monsoon rains can quickly become floods that carry debris and silt.
Beginning Friday afternoon, rainfall wreaked havoc in areas like Rociada and Holman, according to the National Weather Service reports.
The seven reports provided by residents to the NWS mention waters rushing over highways causing closures, and a barn in Tierra Monte was flooded.
Source New Mexico has put together a map of where flooding reports were called in within the burn scar. It’s drawn from the NWS reports and the most-recent fire perimeter map produced by the National Interagency Fire Center.
Annette Mokry, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the precipitation stopped more or less by Saturday.
“I don’t think it was a worst-case scenario,” she said. “The heaviest rain that I’m aware of kind of fell in somewhat of a more localized couple of areas.”
One gauge near Gascon recorded 2 inches of rain, she said.
“That was a localized amount,” she said. “If the entire scar were to get that much then, Oh, my God.”
She doesn’t mean to dismiss the damage and the fear some faced over the weekend, however. The Weather Service will continue to monitor and accept reports of flooding throughout the monsoon season.
“For the people affected, though? It probably seemed like worst-case to them,” she said. “I don’t want to minimize.”
Biologists' fears confirmed on the lower Colorado River - By Brittany Peterson Associated Press
For National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Arnold, it was a moment he'd been dreading. Bare-legged in sandals, he was pulling in a net in a shallow backwater of the lower Colorado River last week, when he spotted three young fish that didn't belong there. "Give me a call when you get this!" he messaged a colleague, snapping photos.
Minutes later, the park service confirmed their worst fear: smallmouth bass had in fact been found and were likely reproducing in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam.
They may be a beloved sport fish, but smallmouth bass feast on humpback chub, an ancient, threatened fish that's native to the river, and that biologists like Arnold have been working hard to recover. The predators wreaked havoc in the upper river, but were held at bay in Lake Powell where Glen Canyon Dam has served as a barrier for years — until now. The reservoir's recent sharp decline is enabling these introduced fish to get past the dam and closer to where the biggest groups of chub remain, farther downstream in the Grand Canyon.
There, Brian Healy has worked with the humpback chub for more than a decade and founded the Native Fish Ecology and Conservation Program.
"It's pretty devastating to see all the hard work and effort you've put into removing other invasive species and translocating populations around to protect the fish and to see all that effort overturned really quickly," Healy said.
As reservoir levels drop, non-native fish that live in warm surface waters in Lake Powell are edging closer to the dam and its penstocks — submerged steel tubes that carry water to turbines, where it generates hydroelectric power and is released on the other side.
If bass and other predator fish continue to get sucked into the penstocks, survive and reproduce below the dam, they will have an open lane to attack chub and other natives, potentially unraveling years of restoration work and upending the Grand Canyon aquatic ecosystem — the only stretch of the river still dominated by native species.
On the brink of extinction decades ago, the chub has come back in modest numbers thanks to fish biologists and other scientists and engineers. Agencies spend millions of dollars annually to keep intruders in check in the upper portion of the river.
Under the Endangered Species Act, government agencies are required to operate in ways that will not "jeopardize the continued existence" of listed animals. That includes infrastructure.
Even before the discovery of smallmouth bass spawning below the dam, agencies had been bracing for this moment. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently enlisted a team of researchers at Utah State University to map the nonnative fish in Lake Powell and try to determine which could pass through the dam first.
A task force quickly assembled earlier this year to address the urgency the low water poses for native fish. Federal, state and tribal leaders are expected to release a draft plan in August containing solutions for policymakers who intend to delay, slow and respond to the threat of smallmouth bass and other predators below the dam.
There are a variety of solutions, but many will require significant changes to infrastructure.
In the meantime, National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Arizona Game and Fish Department are moving quickly to try to contain the issue. During an emergency meeting, they decided to increase their monitoring efforts in other shallow areas and block off the entire backwater where the smallmouth bass were found so they can't swim out into the river.
"Unfortunately, the only block nets we have are pretty large mesh, so it will not stop these smaller fish from going through, but it will keep the adults from going back out," Arnold said, noting it's the best they can do with available resources.
Experts say leaving more water in Lake Powell would be the best solution to ensure cool water can be released through the dam, although it's tough to do in a river under so much stress.
Last month, the Department of the Interior notified the seven western states that depend on Colorado River water that they must devise a way to conserve up to 4 million acre-feet of water in 2023 — more than Arizona and Nevada's share combined -- or face federal intervention. It is unclear where that conserved supply would be stored, but Healy says he hopes Lake Powell is being considered.
"If we want to protect some of the values for which Grand Canyon National Park was established, we need to really think about how water is stored," Healy said. "That issue needs to be at the table."
Western states could settle feud over beleaguered Rio Grande - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
The fight between Texas and New Mexico over the management of one of the longest rivers in North America could be nearing an end as a date to resume the trial has been put off pending negotiations aimed at settling the years-long case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas announced Tuesday that a special master appointed by the court cleared the way for ongoing negotiations and set a date in July for a status update.
The Supreme Court would have to approve any agreement reached by the states. In the case of an impasse, the trial would continue later this year.
"We assembled the best legal and scientific team in the nation to disprove that our farmers and our communities owed billions in damages to Texas, and we are now on the cusp of an exciting historic settlement agreement that will protect New Mexico water for generations to come," Balderas said in a statement.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office did not immediately respond to questions about the negotiations or a possible settlement.
The battle over the Rio Grande has become a multimillion-dollar case in a region where water supplies are dwindling due to increased demand along with drought and warmer temperatures brought on by climate change.
The river through stretches of New Mexico marked record low flows again this year, resulting in some farmers voluntarily fallowing fields to help the state meet downstream obligations mandated by water-sharing compacts that date back decades.
Texas has argued that groundwater pumping in southern New Mexico is reducing the river's flow and cutting into how much water makes it across the border. New Mexico argues that it has been shorted on its share of the river.
The first phase of trial was completed last fall, with testimony from farmers, hydrologists, irrigation managers and others. More technical testimony was expected to be part of the next phase.
A robust start to the monsoon season has given the Rio Grande somewhat of a reprieve after state and federal water managers had warned that stretches of the river closer to Albuquerque would likely go dry this summer as New Mexico's mega-drought continues.
Tricia Snyder, the interim wild rivers program director for the group WildEarth Guardians, said policymakers need to fundamentally rethink how to manage and value river systems.
"Like many river basins throughout the American West, we are approaching a crisis point," she said. "Climate change is throwing into sharp relief the cracks in western water management and policy and the unsustainable water allocation included in that."
Snyder and others have said that status quo has resulted in water resources being tapped out in the West and that all users — from cities and industry to farmers and Native American tribes — will need a seat at the table during future discussions on how to live within a river's means.
The latest federal map shows about three-quarters of the western U.S. are dealing with some level of drought. That is less than three months ago. But federal agriculture officials reported Tuesday that weekly rainfall accumulations for several locations were still well below average.
In New Mexico, the driest areas were on the eastern side of the state, where precipitation has totaled 25% of normal or less. That has affected cotton and hay crops as well as cattle and sheep herds.
State inspections lag for New Mexico’s primary drinking water source – By Megan Gleason, Source New Mexico
Nearly 80% of New Mexicans depend on groundwater sources for their drinking water, according to the state. But the N.M. Environment Department isn’t keeping up with inspections and enforcement of health standards with those who hold permits to discharge into groundwater systems.
People in New Mexico can discharge liquid waste or pollutants into water sources with permits. This activity is supposed to be monitored by the Environment Department to ensure health standards are being met, and water is still safe to drink. But due to low inspection and enforcement rates, there could be unmonitored groundwater contamination.
There were 597 groundwater permittees reported from January to March, but only 35 inspections — just 6% — were conducted, according to a recently released report by the Legislative Finance Committee. The target goal of 65% for the whole fiscal year likely won’t be met.
This will be the third year in a row the state hasn’t met their goal for groundwater inspections, reports show.
Of the groundwater permittees inspected from January to March, 8% violated health standards. But it’s not likely that they’ll be forced to comply, either.
Environment Department spokesperson Matthew Maez said a lot of violations aren’t being penalized or corrected due to lack of staff. Seven out of 28 inspector positions at the Ground Water Quality Bureau are vacant, leaving the rest of the employees to make up for a missing 25% of the workforce.
He attributed much of these below-target rates to lack of sufficient funding from the state Legislature.
“In general, a significant number of inspections that identify violations are not enforced given the lack of adequate agency funding,” Maez wrote via email.
DAIRIES, NITRATES AND DROUGHT
Food and Water Watch is a national advocacy organization that advocates for clean water, and spokesperson Jessica Gable said regulation of groundwater discharge is an issue across the nation. In New Mexico specifically, she said most of the organization’s work is related to mega-dairies that play a large part in groundwater contamination.
Dairies in the state account for nearly 20% of all groundwater permittees and are allowed to cumulatively discharge over 6.3 million gallons of waste every day. But, according to Food and Water Watch, 80% of New Mexico’s mega-dairies have half the amount of land necessary to absorb manure nutrients. Gable said that can threaten groundwater, and there’s really none to spare during the historic drought the state is enduring.
When there are excess manure nutrients in groundwater, there’s a risk for that to turn into elevated levels of nitrate that contaminate groundwater sources, Gable said. With drinking water, this can lead to health issues, including cancer and birth defects, according to the National Institutes of Health. Gable said mega-dairies are the primary sources of nitrate contamination in groundwater.
“It’s a vicious cycle, and with any kind of lack of regulation, that is only likely to get worse,” Gable said.
To help with inspection rates, Maez wrote that the department is using innovative technology but still needs staff to “to hold polluters accountable.” They have some incentives, like an employee referral program and pay raises for advanced retirement notice, but he noted that other things like increased funding and competitive salaries “are critical to boosting inspection rates.”
Gable said the immediate solution is a moratorium on new and expanding mega-dairies.
The Food and Water Watch is also calling on the Environment Department to deny more discharge permits, specifying that no permits should be given out times of a drought, permits and renewals shouldn’t be allowed for discharges into highly contaminated aquifers and repeat violators should have their permits terminated.
But the number of groundwater permittees has been increasing still, according to the Legislative Finance Committee report.
And the globe’s just getting hotter.
“This issue is not going to go away as long as this drought continues,” Gable said, “and as long as the climate continues changing.”
After losing battle to preserve Roe v. Wade, Mississippi’s last abortion clinic is moving to NM -Texas Tribune, KUNM News
Shannon Brewer has lived in Mississippi her entire life, but when she realized the U.S. Supreme Court was about to upend her life’s work, she didn’t think twice about trading her state’s lush wetlands for a ragged mountain range.
At 50, Brewer has worked nearly half her life at what became Mississippi’s last abortion clinic — whose lawsuit against a statewide ban at 15 weeks into a pregnancy prompted the U.S. Supreme Court’s monumental decision last week eradicating Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion in the United States. Now, her clinic is closing its doors for good, as will those in Texas and numerous other states.
As the executive director of Jackson Women’s Health, Brewer says she saw the writing on the wall after the high court heard arguments in her clinic’s case. In December, she began searching for other places she could provide abortion care.
Though a stark contrast politically, geographically and culturally from Mississippi, New Mexico was the obvious choice. Without hesitation, she made plans to uproot her life to the Land of Enchantment.
“I’m not even perplexed about it,” Brewer said with a dismissive shrug, clicking away at her laptop in what will soon be the Las Cruces Women’s Health clinic. “I’ve raised my kids, they’re all grown, and this is what I’ve been doing, and this is what I want to continue doing.”
Brewer’s team picked Las Cruces, about 40 miles north of El Paso, because of its proximity to Texas and its lack of abortion care. They found an old dentist’s office in the city this spring and hope to have their new clinic open next month.
Brewer talks easily and often, but her mind is never far from her work. In conversation, her gaze often shifts to an alert on her computer screen or a ringing phone. At times, she stops talking midsentence to make a note on one of many nearby Post-It notes.
Her gaze and hands steadied, however, as she explained the saddest part of relocating is that many women in places like Mississippi or Texas won’t be able to travel to New Mexico for an abortion.
“But I still get to help women,” she added. “So the decision actually, it wasn’t hard to make.”
More than half of the states in the country already have or are likely to outlaw abortion after the high court’s ruling, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In the immediate aftermath, many poor people in anti-abortion states like Texas are unable to safely access procedures or medication. Those who can are traveling across the country and flooding the few clinics in states where abortion is still legal.
The pattern isn’t new, as the number of clinics has dwindled across the country for years. After Texas’ abortion ban at about six weeks into pregnancy went into effect in September, Brewer said existing clinics in places like New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana and hers in Mississippi were inundated with Texas patients.
Before September, she said the Jackson clinic was open three days a week, and staff often had down time. Since, the clinic has been open five days a week and is swarming every day.
“That’s one state that caused all the states around them to be busy,” she said. “So you multiply that by half of the United States and what do you get? You get a catastrophe.”
THE SAFE HAVEN
New Mexico — set to become a safe haven for abortion for Texas and much of the south — is also a poor, largely rural state that often fails to adequately provide reproductive health care to its own residents, including abortions and things like cancer screenings.
The state has only three surgical abortion clinics, all in Albuquerque, the most populous city in the state’s northern half. Doña Ana County, home to Las Cruces in the south, has two reproductive health clinics, but they only provide abortion medication for early stage pregnancies. One clinic advertises on its website that it’s only one mile from El Paso.
New Mexico abortion-rights advocates have encouraged new providers to come help the state with its increasing patient load. But they have urged them to not only perform abortions, largely for out-of-state patients, but to help New Mexicans with all reproductive health care, as well.
“We hope that any provider coming to New Mexico is doing so with the true, long-term needs of the community in mind,” said Charlene Bencomo, executive director of Bold Futures, a New Mexico advocacy group for the rights of women and people of color.
Brewer said she aims for her new clinic to provide services that New Mexico needs beyond abortion. She discussed contraception, health screenings and, possibly, meetings or instructional classes in the clinic’s basement focused on empowering women.
Brewer already has a condo in Las Cruces, which she at least initially plans to share with two Jackson clinic staffers who are also relocating. A self-described workaholic, she said she plans to spend most of her waking life at the clinic. So it doesn’t bother her that Black residents like herself make up less than 3% of the population in what will become her new state.
Though she will keep a place in Mississippi so she can see her family often, her priorities are to continue fighting for abortion rights for her daughters and granddaughters.
“As long as they have access, then they’re able to make a full decision on what they want to do if they need to,” Brewer said.
A NEW HOME
On Monday, memories of the former dentist’s office were visible in X-ray mounts and cabinets, but nearly every wall of what will be New Mexico’s newest abortion clinic was painted different shades of bright, hopeful colors. Unhung paintings and an eclectic mix of furniture lined the hallways.
Humming a songless tune, Brewer walked through the office, pointing out rooms that would be designated for counseling, prescribing abortion medication, ultrasounds, lab testing and recovery, plus a surgical hall for procedural abortions as well as other reproductive health services like Pap smears.
Brewer said she knew the building was right because flash flood ditches, or arroyos, surround two sides of the office and act as physical barriers. She also appreciated that the parking lot and entrance are behind the building, not right off the street where protesters are likely to gather.
During 21 years at the Mississippi clinic, she said protesters were always stationed, holding religious signs and shouting at people walking from the parking lot to the building. Brewer expects anti-abortion advocates will soon be outside her building in Las Cruces, too, even if the city and state largely support abortion rights.
“You have antis who were in these 20-some states that are fixing to close — what are they going to do?” she said. “This is all they know, and this is all they’ve been doing.
This week, Brewer was overseeing phone connections and security camera installations and estimating pricing and insurance plans. A few doctors who plan to work rotating shifts in the new clinic are already licensed in New Mexico, and she said a few more who work at the Jackson clinic are waiting for approval to practice medicine from the New Mexico Medical Board.
On Tuesday, Brewer went back to Mississippi to run her existing clinic in its final days. Mississippi’s trigger ban against abortion will go into effect 10 days after the state attorney general signed off on the ruling, which happened Monday.
After tying up loose ends, like suggesting alternatives for patients who routinely visited for contraception, Brewer will pack up and move to New Mexico.
“It’s going to be weird,” she acknowledged, twirling her hair between her purple fingernails. “The whole time I’ve been doing this New Mexico thing, I haven’t really put a whole lot of personal thought into it as far as the Jackson clinic. Because I’ve put my focus on what’s next, what’s next, what’s next.
“My plans are just to stay open to be able to help everybody that we can.”