abortion

Gallup may be the next city in New Mexico to pursue adopting an anti-abortion ordinance. Tensions ran high at the city’s council meeting late Tuesday evening as each side made its case in support of or opposition to the proposed ordinance.

Several local authorities across the state have passed ordinances restricting access to abortion. The city of Gallup could be next despite legal challenges over these ordinances from the Attorney General’s office.

Eunice, a small city in the east of the state, is suing to overturn the new law, in the latest in an escalating battle over local ordinances restricting access to abortion, which remains legal in New Mexico.

Edgewood is following the cities of Clovis, Hobbs and Eunice, as well as Roosevelt and Lea Counties, in passing ordinances that cite federal law to restrict access to abortion, although it is the first to do so since a new law prohibited the local actions.

It is the latest in a series of legal actions over access to abortion in New Mexico, although the procedure remains legal here and a new law prevents municipalities interfering in reproductive care.

New Mexico has seen significant movement on protecting reproductive healthcare and access to abortion. Still the town of Edgewood is considering an ordinance that would likely violate state law and court rulings.

Whole Woman's Health said in a statement that 50,000 Texans seek abortion care annually. The organization raised $300,000 through a GoFundMe campaign to relocate its Texas services to New Mexico.

Following an hours-long debate, the New Mexico House passed a bill to protect those who provide or seek abortions or gender-affirming care in the state. the measure would enshrine into law safeguards for out-of-state patients and clinicians issued by executive order after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Bill sponsor Senator Katy Duhigg said that the law was necessary to ensure that all people in New Mexico have the same ability to access reproductive and gender-affirming care.

Democratic lawmakers and the Attorney General pushing back against local authorities find themselves at the center of a legal debate that some think could even rise to the US Supreme Court.