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New Polling Data Shows that New Mexico Voters Overwhelmingly Support the Creation of a Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2021
CONTACT: Terrelene Massey, Email, 505-244-0502

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWLC) and the Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) Coalition have released the results of a recent poll showing a large majority of New Mexicans are supportive of a state-administered Paid Family & Medical Leave program.

Since 2016, the PFML Coalition, convened by the SWLC, has worked with legislators to advocate for the passage of the Paid Family & Medical Leave Act (PFMLA). In 2021, PFMLA was sponsored by Representatives Christine Chandler, Patricia Roybal Caballero, and Linda Serrato. The PFMLA would establish a Paid Family & Medical Leave Trust Fund to be administered through the NM Department of Workforce Solutions. The PFML Trust Fund would be supported through employee and employer contributions and provide up to 12 weeks of compensation for a qualifying event. Qualifying events include:

  • Bonding with a new child
  • Managing a serious health condition requiring treatment by a medical provider
  • Caring for a family member with a serious health condition
  • Exigencies arising out of family member being on active-duty military service
  • Certain events related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking

SWLC, on behalf of the PFML Coalition, commissioned Change Research, a public opinion polling company, to conduct an online poll of 750 registered voters statewide from October 10-13, 2021, using its Dynamic Online Sampling to attain a sample reflective of the electorate.

The polling data clearly shows that NM voters of all types strongly support a proposal for 12 weeks of paid leave and will support legislators who vote to pass such a proposal.

Key findings from the survey include:

  • More than three-quarters (77%) support the creation of a family and medical leave insurance program that would ensure up to 12 weeks of partially paid leave for employees to welcome a new child, care for a family member with a serious health concern, or to manage their own serious health condition. A majority (55%) strongly support this program while only 18% are opposed.
  • This proposal is supported by every group in the electorate regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, political party, or region of the state.
  • When voters hear that the cost of this program to workers would be only $2 to $6 per week, support expands to 81%.
  • Elected officials who support this proposal will strengthen their position with voters and will undermine it if they vote against it. Overall, 55% of voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate for elected office who supports this proposal. Just 18% indicate they would be more likely to vote for someone else. Likewise, a majority (55%) say they would be more likely to vote for someone else if a candidate opposes this proposal.
  • Among respondents who identified as self-employed, contractors, or business owners, 71% are supportive of establishing a state-administered Paid Family & Medical Leave program.

It is clear from this polling data that New Mexico voters are overwhelmingly supportive of the passage and implementation of the Paid Family & Medical Leave Act. It is time for the legislature and the Governor to act to ensure that New Mexico workers no longer face the loss of their livelihood due to a health condition or family caregiving responsibilities.

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Review Paid Leave Poll: New Mexico Voters

Download PDF Press Release


The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWLC) is a non-profit legal advocacy organization founded in 2005. The Center is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico and serves women in the entire state.

In the News: Crisis Pregnancy Centers Endanger Women’s Health—With Taxpayer Dollars and Without Oversight

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10/29/2021 by Carrie N. Baker and Carly Thomsen via Ms. Magazine
Photo: More than 2,500 anti-abortion centers are currently operating throughout the United States. (NARAL Pro-Choice America / Flickr)

“Modern CPCs are plugged into the global anti-abortion movement’s sophisticated digital infrastructure, which facilitates expansion, client surveillance, and systemic, coordinated promotion of anti-abortion disinformation.”

—The Alliance, “Designed to Deceive”

While all eyes are on the Texas abortion ban and two Supreme Court cases poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, a new report shines light on the less visible side of the anti-abortion movement: “crisis pregnancy centers” preying on low-income women—and particularly Black women—with false promises, dangerous misinformation and stigmatizing judgment.

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Report Shows Anti-Abortion Organizations Mislead Clients, Provide Dangerous “Medication,” and Offer Few Legitimate Services

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CONTACT: Terrelene Massey, 505-244-0502

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—The Southwest Women’s Law Center joins the Alliance: State Advocates for Women’s Rights & Gender Equality today in releasing a report, “Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States.”

This report sheds light on crisis pregnancy center (CPC) activities and funding sources. Combined with high-profile legislative and legal battles, CPCs are the centerpiece of an extreme decades-long anti-abortion strategy.

The report shows that CPCs don’t offer legitimate healthcare and resources. Instead, CPCs target their deceptive marketing toward pregnant people of color and pregnant people with lower incomes and provide few or no real medical services. CPCs also systematically mislead clients about the services they provide, potentially resulting in delayed care and unnecessary risks to the health of their clients.

The report, which details the activities of CPCs in New Mexico, finds:

  • The promotion of misleading and biased medical claims to coerce and manipulate pregnant people away from obtaining an abortion and contraception;
  • The widespread promotion of abortion pill reversal, a dangerous and unscientific procedure that creates stigma and threatens pregnant peoples’ health;
  • A lack of licensed medical professionals at the facilities and a lack of real medical services provided at CPCs;
    and
  • A vast digital infrastructure with explicit links to the anti-abortion movement that targets and harasses pregnant people with lower incomes and pregnant people of color.

“This is yet another barrier for women and girls to access objective, reproductive services, and science-based information,” said Terrelene Massey, Executive Director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center. “Pregnant people deserve the best available medical advice, and CPCs are not providing that. What they are providing is misinformation, which is dangerous.”

The report recommends that New Mexico take the following actions to protect pregnant people’s health and increase accountability and transparency for CPCs operating in our state:

  • New Mexico policymakers should ban the use of non-diagnostic aka “vanity” ultrasounds/sonography;
  • Create a mechanism to provide free or low-cost diapers to low-income New Mexicans;
  • Increase the number of months for post-partum Medicaid coverage from three to 12 months;
  • Include grief counseling as a mandatory mental health insurance benefit to any family who has lost a child, whether through stillbirth, SIDS, miscarriage, or abortion;
  • Make it easier to apply for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act by including a box to check on state tax forms giving permission to check financial eligibility;
  • Protect clients by prohibiting abortion pill reversal and extending HIPAA-like protections to people served by non-profits providing pregnancy-related services;
  • Increase accountability and transparency for CPCs that receive state support;
  • Eliminate barriers that make healthcare unaffordable and otherwise inaccessible for pregnant people and parents; and
  • Address gaps in reproductive healthcare that CPCs exploit.

Even in states like ours with strong legal protections for abortion, the proliferation of CPCs threatens access to abortion care and contraception, especially for lower-income people and people of color. This demands a response that goes beyond Roe v. Wade and addresses the real barriers that pregnant people face when trying to access abortion care.

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View Documents and Resources at The Alliance State Advocates

Report: Indigenous women in the U.S. earn 60 cents on the dollar

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In 19 of the 32 states with sufficient data, Native women are paid at least $20K less per year than white men

By: Special to the Capital-Star, Photo Source: Institute for Women’s Policy Research

By Shaun Griswold

Historic inequality for Native American women is still present in economic earnings, according to a report released this week by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. 

Native American women are not receiving their worth from employers for their work. And it’s historically bad. “During the last decade, the gender earnings gap for Native women and white men has not improved,” researchers concluded.

Nationally, Native American women receive 60 cents for every dollar a white man makes. New Mexico was highlighted by the report for being the worst in the nation for income inequality for Native American women. White men in the state make $58,153 on a median scale. By the same metric, Native American women make $30,000, That’s a 51.6 percent gap.

READ FULL ARTICLE

What would happen in NM if Roe was weakened or overturned?

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In just over two months, the Center for Reproductive Rights will stand before the U.S. Supreme Court to defend abortion rights. Again.

The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, challenges Mississippi’s law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

But this is more than Mississippi’s law. The Supreme Court allowed Texas’s law S.B. 8, an extreme ban on abortion, to stand. Most Texas women seeking abortion will have to go out of state. New Mexico abortion healthcare providers have already seen an increase in patients.

If Roe is weakened or overturned, what will happen in New Mexico?

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, “Abortion will remain accessible in New Mexico, but without legal protection. New Mexico courts have not determined whether the state constitution protects a right to abortion.”

The Southwest Women’s Law Center helped to repeal New Mexico’s pre-Roe ban during the 2021 legislative session. SWLC will continue to fight to protect reproductive rights for New Mexican women.

What can you do?

Attend a Women’s March this Saturday, October 2 – virtually or in person – enter your zip code to find a location near you. Some of the New Mexico events include (make sure to check the event site for the most up-to-date information):

Albuquerque

NMWM’s March for Our Rights

Tiguex Park, 1800 Mountain Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104

Saturday, October 2, 2:00 p.m.

Santa Fe

Rally to Protect Women’s Reproductive Rights

New Mexico State Capitol, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Saturday, October 2, 11:00 a.m.

Taos

Taos Rally for Reproductive Rights

Intersection in front of the World Cup Coffee Shop, 102 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM 87571

Saturday, October 2, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Las Cruces

Stand Against S.B. 8

Las Cruces City Hall, 700 N Main St, Las Cruces, NM 88001

Saturday, October 2, 10:00 a.m.

Cloudcroft

Women’s March

Zenith Park, James Canyon Hwy, Cloudcroft, NM 88317

Saturday, October 2, 1:00 p.m.

Silver City

Women’s March & Rally for Abortion Justice

Visitor’s Center to Gough Park, 201 N. Hudson Street, Silver City, NM

Saturday, October 2, 2:00 p.m.

  • Support one of the many wonderful organizations working to protect women’s access to safe and legal abortion
  • Support us in our work today to keep abortion safe and legal and defend a woman’s right to choose

Southwest Women’s Law Center

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Official Statement on Texas Senate Bill 8

The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWLC) is outraged and saddened that women’s health, fundamental freedoms, and constitutional rights continue to be attacked in America. On September 1, 2021, Senate Bill 8 took effect in Texas. This bill is aimed at banning safe abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around 6-weeks’ gestation.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), in 2018 more than 90% of abortions were performed around or before 13-weeks’ gestation. Most women seeking abortions do not know they are pregnant until after the 6 -week mark. Texas Senate Bill 8 doesn’t stop abortion. This bill only makes abortions harder to obtain and will endanger the lives of women in Texas.

This has been a consistent effort by lawmakers and anti-abortion zealots in Texas over the last several decades. In 2013, lawmakers attempted a similar abortion ban known as House Bill 2. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban was unconstitutional in 2017. But the damage was already done to abortion access in Texas. As a result, less than 20 abortion clinics exist today in Texas. Now, lawmakers in Texas have taken further action and have banned abortions after 6-weeks with the passing of Senate Bill 8.

Under Senate Bill 8, seeking an abortion is not criminalized. However, those who assist the person or perform the abortion may face civil liability. Worse, this law actively encourages private citizens, with no standing, to act as bounty hunters by awarding them $10,000 if they successfully sue another person for providing abortion or assisting someone who gets an abortion after 6-weeks’ gestation.

This abortion ban is intentionally designed to overwhelm clinics in the state with lawsuits and legal bills and force them to shut down. Due to structural racism and inequities, laws like Texas’ abortion ban disproportionately harms people of color, people with low incomes, and those living in rural areas. This bill will effectively end safe abortion access in Texas. Unfortunately, these bans will not stop in Texas. Oklahoma passed a similar bill that is expected to go into effect on November 1, 2021. The Oklahoma bill makes performing an abortion a homicide. Florida is now also considering a bill like the abortion ban in Texas. Women in New Mexico are currently immune from the laws in other states. But this does not mean we should sit by and watch our sisters in other states suffer. We at the

Southwest Women’s Law Center is involved in efforts to support those seeking safe abortions and encourage others to help however they can. Organizations Below is a list of organizations currently engaged in the fight for Women’s access to safe and legal reproductive health services:

OrganizationWhat they are doingWebsite
ACLUPursing a lawsuit regarding the Texas safe abortion ban.aclu.org
Fund Texas
Choice		Provides travel and accommodation assistance to Texas residents.fundtexaschoice.org
Lilith FundProvides financial assistance and emotional supportlilithfund.org
Avow and Lilith
Fund		Provides location of clinics, funding information, free legal help for pregnant minors, counseling, and other help.needabortion.org
National Network of Abortion FundsProvides a list of organizations that can help fund abortion in all 50 states.abortionfunds.org/need-abortion

We encourage supporters to contact the organizations directly to provide monetary support.

Download PDF Statement