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Crisis Centers Preying on People Seeking Abortions

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By: Shaun Griswold at the Louisianna Illuminator– July 7, 2022
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — It’s a nice storefront sandwiched between an insurance office and massage parlor. Two double-sided signs on the sidewalk in front of the building off San Mateo in southeast  Albuquerque advertise free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds. Their website has resources for social services, housing and adoption care. 

One thing these places won’t offer: safe and reliable access to abortion care.

Whenever they collect your data, they’re able to share it with states like Texas. And so somebody who inadvertently contacts them, that CPC finds out that you got an abortion then tips off Texas,” said Jessica Serrano, a lawyer with the Southwest Women’s Law Center. “I think we need to do more to warn people.”

Continue reading on Louisianna Illuminator

SWLC’s Statement on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decision

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Today we all have heavy hearts because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to take away healthcare rights from millions of Americans. This ruling strips away a constitutionally protected right and elevates states’ interest in a fetus over a pregnant person’s right to bodily autonomy. This decision also rolls back 50 years of pregnant people being able to make sound decisions about their life and health.  

Trigger bans in half of the states will take effect today. People who went to sleep last night with the right to make their own bodily and family decisions woke up this morning to criminal laws surrounding abortion. More states will likely follow with new bans of their own.  

In states like Oklahoma, abortion providers now face criminal consequences. Performing an abortion or attempting to perform the procedure is a felony punishable by a maximum fine of $100,000 or a maximum of 10 years in state prison, or both. The pregnant person who sought the abortion would not be criminally charged or convicted for seeking or obtaining the procedure; however, a failed Louisiana bill proposed this legislative session sought to do just that, signaling this as a possibility in states willing to pass similar measures through.  

States like Idaho are already considering banning emergency contraception like Plan B. Survivors of rape would have no option but to carry a pregnancy to term in states with abortion and emergency contraception bans.  

Other states have banned the shipping of medication for abortion. For people facing ectopic pregnancies, medication abortion pills are lifesaving. There are already stories of pharmacists refusing to fill prescriptions for this necessary medication.  

This decision also has much farther-reaching implications. This decision isn’t just about the right to make life and healthcare decisions about pregnancy. Justice Alito tried to distinguish abortion rights from other privacy rights through discussion over “potential life” and how abortion poses a “critical moral question.” However, the further justification for overturning the right to abortion has the potential to overturn other privacy right based critically moral questions by the same groups that oppose abortion. There is no doubt we will see future challenges to the right to contraception, the right to marriage, and the right to other bodily decisions. Justice Thomas’s concurrence in today’s decision specifically states his willingness to revisit the precedents establishing these very rights. We have already seen several states ban discussion of the LGBTQ+ community in schools and access to transgender care.  

Today is hard. This decision on the right to abortion is demoralizing. But we need to keep up the fight and turn large setbacks like this to our advantage. We should use this time to refocus our fight. 

We will center the abortion movement on people of color. We will uplift voices that have not always been heard. We will use this time to make sure we are including the LGBTQ+ community in conversations about reproductive rights and justice.  

We need to protest for the right to abortion and in the same breath discuss the crisis of reproductive healthcare “deserts.” When we talk about bans off our bodies, we also need to remember those bans include everything from abortion to the right to have a child and not be subject to forcible sterilization. 

We cannot and will not be silent in the face of this clear attack on the rights of more than half of Americans. Today we reset from this devastating blow. Tomorrow, we uplift historically silenced voices. Tomorrow, we channel our anger and sadness into action. Tomorrow, we restart the fight for access to abortion and reproductive justice. 

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JOIN US
Debrief on the U.S. Supreme Court Decision

Our panel of experts will break down the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision and what it means for the future of New Mexican pregnant people. We will also discuss the dangers of Crisis Pregnancy Centers and their role in the anti-abortion movement.

Register Here

Frustrated and scared about the news?

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We are right there with you, feeling the range of emotions from today’s news – anger, frustration, heartbreak, and even though we were bracing ourselves for it, shock. However, today abortion remains LEGAL, and we are fortunate to live in a state where abortion will remain legal, even if Roe is overturned. BUT we must remain VIGILANT. The Southwest Women’s Law Center is committed to fighting for access to safe abortion for future generations. Keeping women and girls in New Mexico safe and healthy is our priority. 

What the SWLC is doing to help the abortion healthcare crisis:

The SWLC is working to expose the Crisis Pregnancy Center (CPC) industry in New Mexico. You may have driven by a CPC and not even realized it. With names like, “Pregnancy Resource Center”, “Casa de Mariposa”, and “Women’s Pregnancy Options”, it’s easy to mistake them for legitimate clinics. But CPCs are part of a national anti-abortion network collecting sensitive personal and medical information from pregnant people seeking healthcare. 

CPCs are anti-abortion organizations that target low-income people facing unintended pregnancies to prevent them from accessing abortion and contraception. In recent years, the anti-abortion movement has expanded and elevated the role of CPCs within the broader movement, in part by facilitating the coordination of sophisticated data collection and exploitation systems.  

Read more in Designed to Deceive, the report by the SWLC and partners that make up the Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

TAKE ACTION

Show up for Abortion Rights TODAY, May 3rd, 5 PM:
Albuquerque: Federal Courthouse, 333 Lomas Blvd. NW
Santa Fe: Federal Courthouse, 106 S. Federal Place
Las Cruces: City Hall/Albert Johnson Park, 700 N Main St.

Support these organizations:

Abortion funds:
Indigenous Women Rising
New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Mariposa Fund

Abortion Healthcare and Policy:
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains 

Work to expose CPCs and Abortion Healthcare Policy:
Support the SWLC and join us in preventing CPCs from receiving state funds or gaining more momentum in New Mexico.

URGENT: CPC Report Re-release

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BREAKING NEWS:

Groundbreaking Report Highlights How CPCs Are Breaching Data Privacy of Pregnant People for the Anti-Abortion Movement   

The Alliance is re-issuing our groundbreaking 2021 report, Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States, with an urgent warning about the role of the newly expanded crisis pregnancy center (CPC) industry, is poised to play in the post-Roe United States.

Learn More about what our lawmakers and communities can do to protect pregnant people’s health and wellbeing.

The Southwest Women’s Law Center is committed to keeping women and girls in New Mexico safe and healthy. Please make a gift today and help us continue our important work, such as preventing pregnant people from being surveilled. Thank you!

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The Southwest Women’s Law Center Statement Regarding the 49th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade

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January 22, 2022

It was an early morning in December when the U.S. Supreme Court (“Supreme Court”) first heard the case involving a Texas law limiting when a person could get an abortion. Roe v Wade was heard first in 1971 and again in 1972, but the Supreme Court finally decided on January 22, 1973. They ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right to privacy and that a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion falls within that right to privacy.

Today we face a similar position – a law limiting when a pregnant person can get an abortion. Forty-nine years later, it is again left to the Supreme Court to determine if a pregnant person has the right to choose when to have an abortion. In short, the Dobbs v. Jackson case is asking to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The data is clear: Americans support Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to access abortion. In fact, over 79% of Americans support some system of choice for abortion seekers.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, it is projected that roughly 25 million women and girls of reproductive age will lose abortion access entirely in the United States. Safe and legal abortions would virtually be unavailable for one-third of people ages 15–49 who may need it.

These estimates are based on populations in more than 20 states that have a combination of pre-Roe v. Wade bans referred to as “trigger bans” that will automatically make abortion illegal if the Court’s decision overturns Roe v. Wade or interprets it more narrowly.

In New Mexico, we are fortunate the “trigger ban” is no longer in effect. In 2021, the SWLC worked with allies to repeal a pre-Roe bill criminalizing abortion in New Mexico. Repealing the ban means that even if the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision for Dobbs overturns Roe v. Wade, pregnant people in New Mexico will still have access to legal and safe abortions. On this 49th anniversary of the decision of Roe v. Wade, it’s uneasy to think we as a country are in this precarious position. However, we are lucky to have a forward-thinking legislature in New Mexico that supports women’s rights and autonomy.

Savanna and Not Invisible Act

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Albuquerque, NM – September 23, 2020

SWLC commends the U.S. House for passing the Not Invisible Act and the Savanna’s Act, and further encourages President Trump to sign the bills into law

The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWLC) commends the U.S. House of Representatives for passing the Not Invisible Act (S. 982) and Savanna’s Act (S. 227) on September 21, 2020, moving them to either be signed into law or vetoed by President Donald J. Trump.

The SWLC encourages President Trump to sign both bills into law. The bills address missing and murdered Indians on tribal lands. U.S. Congresswomen Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), tribal member of the Laguna Pueblo and Sharice Davids (D-K.S.), tribal member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, are two of the four co-sponsors of the Not Invisible Act. The Not Invisible Act (NIA) establishes a joint commission of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Department of Justice. It would also establish a coordinator within the BIA to combat violence by coordinating efforts, grants, and programs related to the murder of, trafficking of, and missing Native Americans. It will also create a Joint Commission on Reducing Violent Crimes Against Indians, which will include Tribes, States, and Federal officials, the Indian Health Service, urban Indian representatives, survivors and family members of missing and murdered Native Americans, among others.  

The Savanna’s Act, on the other hand, clarifies responsibilities of federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies with respect to responding to cases of missing or murdered Indians. It also calls for increased coordination and communication among the various law enforcement agencies, including medical examiner and coroner offices. The bill aims to address the jurisdictional complexities that Indian Country face. The bill also aims to empower tribal governments with the resources and information necessary to effectively respond to cases of missing and murdered Indians. It also aims to increase the collection of data related to missing and murder Indian men, women, and children regardless of where they reside and the sharing of information.  

Terrelene Massey, Esq. (Navajo), SWLC Executive Director, believes that both the Not Invisible Act and the Savanna Act are needed to better protect Native American women, children, and girls, especially those living on tribal lands. Massey says that the bills “are complementary to one another, they provide a comprehensive approach to address missing and murdered Indians among state, tribal, federal and local levels, and further they take steps to prevent human trafficking.” The bills also aim to coordinate the jurisdictional arms of federal, state, tribal and local authorities so they can better work together rather that creating gaps. The SWLC commends the House and the Senate for passing these bills, and now encourages President Trump to sign them into law.

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