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Abortion

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In New Mexico, we are fortunate the “trigger ban” is no longer in effect.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.

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

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

How Indigenous Women Repealed New Mexico’s Longstanding Abortion Ban

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Via Bustle, By Jennifer Gerson

When Terrelene Massey watched New Mexico’s bill to repeal the state’s abortion ban die in the state House in 2019, she was struck by what she calls a “convenient argument” made by some legislators: that they couldn’t vote in favor of the bill because their Native and Indigenous constituents were opposed to it. These legislators — by and large non-native — said their constituents’ cultural practices and spiritual beliefs were at odds with the pro-abortion measure.

Massey, the executive director of the Southwest Women’s Law Center, knew this couldn’t be true. From her own lived experience as a Navajo woman, and her professional experiences as an advocate for Indigenous women in the Southwest,she’d seen firsthand how her peers value body sovereignty as part of their spiritual traditions, and how Indigenous people throughout the region had longstanding, ancestral practices for delivering abortion care.

“Maybe it’s because I am Native American, I am more attuned to seeing what’s missing when we’re not at the table and people trying to fill in our voices for us — and filling that space with inaccuracies and myths,” Massey, who had advocated for the 2019 bill’s passage, tells Bustle.

Jennifer Gerson, Author, Bustle.com

Read Full Article

SB 10 – We are almost there!

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We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The finish line is in our sight. We are on the last leg of our journey. The repeal of New Mexico’s unconstitutional abortion ban is within our grasp. We are this close to completing this nearly fifty-year journey of removing the 1969 abortion ban from New Mexico’s criminal code.

The abortion ban repeal was passed on the Senate floor and sailed out of its five committee hearings with one technical amendment, which does not change the substance of the bill, meaning the repeal bill has not been changed, added to, or watered down. The next stop is the floor of both the New Mexico House and then to the Governor’s desk. This is clearly the most dangerous part of the journey.

The SWLC is so grateful for all the support you have provided in this process. Without the support of the abortion rights warriors in New Mexico, we could not have gotten this far in this righteous journey and we appreciate each and every one of you and thank you for getting us to this historic place. However, we have arrived at the pinnacle of this fight and we need you to stay strong. The anti-abortion rights supporters are bombarding our House and Senate members with unfounded and unbelievable claims about what repealing and removing the abortion ban from the books will do. The majority of these calls and emails are from outside their districts some even from outside the state, but they are still receiving an enormous amount of pressure from the other side.

Now is the time to contact your House members and help them to stay strong against the supporters of anti-abortion rights. Demand they vote “Yes!” to repeal the abortion ban statute and also let your legislators know that you support them in this fight, too. Tell them that you have stood beside them (virtually of course!) at every step in this journey and are there to sustain them, to give them the strength they will need to keep fighting, to bring this bill to the floor and vote to repeal the ban!

At this moment, we are on the precipice of history. What happens in the next few days will determine New Mexico’s place in this country. Will it be a state that robs pregnant people of their bodily autonomy or will New Mexico be a state that supports a pregnant person’s right to follow their own values when it comes to healthcare decisions, including abortion care? Know that you do have a say in this.

Please contact your representative. Let them know that you support SB10, the Respect Women and Families Act, which repeals the abortion ban in its entirety. Let your representatives know that you support them as well. They need to hear this.

You can find who your legislators are at:
https://www.nmlegis.gov/Members/Find_My_Legislator

Thank you for your support

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