New Mexico Pro-Aborts Bracing for Roe Repeal

You are not signed in as a Premium user; you are viewing the free version of this program. Premium users have access to full-length programs with limited commercials and receive a 10% discount in the store! Sign up for only one day for the low cost of $1.99. Click the button below.

See All Plans

SANTA FE, N.M. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pro-abort Democrats in New Mexico are seeking to overturn the state's ban on abortion in advance of a possible overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court.

State Rep. Joanne Ferrary is behind the effort, saying on Facebook, "I am so proud to be part of this great team and carry the Bill to Decriminalize Abortion in NM."

Abortion Free New Mexico leader Bud Shaver, in a statement to Church Militant, said about the situation in the state, "Abortion is legal and being performed up to the the day of birth in New Mexico and New Mexico medicaid pays for it 100 percent."

Shaver continued:

We hope Catholic leadership will directly reach out to Catholic legislators and ask them not to support this radical leftist agenda. Unfortunately, in the past, Catholic Democrats have put allegiance to their party over their faith and voted against pro-life legislation, which is cause for concern as we anticipate the upcoming legislative session in New Mexico.

New Mexico's governor-elect is also pro-abortion and is supported by NARAL, who praised her electoral victory on Twitter during midterm election night on Nov. 6.

New Mexico's abortion ban was passed in 1969, making New Mexico currently one of 12 states with some form of an abortion ban. Some states have laws from the pre-Roe era that would come back to life in the event of Roe being overturned. Four states — Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota — have all passed laws with delayed effective dates which go into effect in case of a Roe repeal. Mississippi is the only state with both pre-Roe abortion restrictions and a trigger law pending repeal of Roe.

Nine states, largely on the East and West coasts, as well as Hawaii, have laws in place explicitly permitting abortion.

Of the states with abortion restrictions, New Mexico, Michigan and Wisconsin are the three to have elected Democrat governors, although the GOP maintains control of the respective state legislatures in the two "blue wall" states. In New Mexico, the Democrats have control of both the governorship and the state legislature.

Among states with explicit abortion-supporting laws, Maryland was the one to have elected a Republican governor during the 2018 midterms, while Democrats kept control of the State Senate and the Maryland House of Delegates.

Speculation on the future of the 1973 decision legalizing abortion in the United States has re-ignited following the successful nomination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey upholding Roe v. Wade.

Kennedy's retirement marked the beginning of the long battle over the nomination of Justice Kavanaugh, complete with allegations without evidence of sexual assault and waves of pro-abortion protesters during nomination hearings. Church Militant reported that after the Democrats' attempt to sink Kavanaugh with the allegations of Christine Blasey Ford failed, toss-up states began turning red weeks out from the midterms.

The midterm results were ultimately lackluster from the Democrats' perspective compared to past midterm damage done to the majority party in Congress.

Justice Kennedy's opinion in Casey famously admitted that contraception leads to abortion, stating that people had "organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail."

Faithful Catholics, as well as pro-life and pro-family evangelicals, are also starting to talk about reversal of Obergefell v. Hodges, a decision that forced recognition of same-sex so-called marriage on all 50 states.

Bob Vander Plaats of the pro-family group The Family Leader, in an appearance with Neil Cavuto on Fox News, said, "I think this is an opportunity to restore a culture of life in this country that honors God and blesses people."

Have a news tip? Submit news to our tip line.

We rely on you to support our news reporting. Please donate today.