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Roe v. Wade

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In New Mexico, we are fortunate the “trigger ban” is no longer in effect.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

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

NM Political Report: Advocates for abortion ban repeal start off a first full week of New Mexico Legislature

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Via Susan Dunlap, NM Political Report

Unlike 2019 when the New Mexico State Senate blocked repealing the 1969 abortion ban, more than half of the 2021 state Senate have signed on to cosponsor SB 10, this year’s effort.

SB 10, sponsored by state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, is a bill that will run parallel to HB 7, sponsored by state House Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, D-Mesilla. Co-sponsor and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D- Santa Fe, said during a press conference Monday morning held by Respect New Mexico Women, a coalition of nonprofit organizations, that 25 state senators have signed onto the bill for the 2021 Legislature. 

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Abortion Care is Always Essential

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As 2020 finally comes to an end (thank goodness!) and we prepare to celebrate the December holidays in safe and thoughtful ways, we at the Southwest Women’s Law Center turn our attention to the upcoming legislative session, which begins at the end of January. While it is still unclear how the 2021 legislative session will proceed vis a vis Covid-19, one thing is certain, this will be a consequential legislative session.

The SWLC is involved in several pieces of legislation: the Paid Family Medical Leave Act which supports New Mexico workers who experience a serious medical condition, have or adopt a child, or need to care for someone experiencing a serious medical condition and a bill that temporarily expands Unemployment Insurance due to a public health emergency, such as COVID-19. The SWLC also supports a Paid Sick Leave bill to support workers so they do not have to go to work while they are ill and of course, legislation to repeal New Mexico’s dormant Abortion Ban.

The Abortion Ban passed in 1969 and was found for the most part to be unconstitutional in 1973 as a result of Roe v. Wade. The Abortion Ban is described as “dormant” because only two provisions of the law remain in effect, a religious refusal provision and a provision requiring licensed physicians to perform abortion procedures. The problem is that the Abortion Ban is still on the books in its entirety, including those provisions that were found unconstitutional in 1973. A complete and total repeal of the Abortion Ban is more important now than ever before.

The most devasting thing the outgoing Trump administration was able to achieve during the last four years was to stack the federal courts with ultra-right-wing attorneys in judicial positions in federal district, appellate and the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court now sits with a 6-3 conservative majority. The effects of stacking the federal bench will be felt for decades.

Roe v. Wade, decided by the Supreme Court in 1973, established the right to abortion care and is the only thing that stands between New Mexico in 2020, where decisions about when and if to parent are made freely, without interference by the state and New Mexico in 1969, where a panel of strangers will decide if you receive abortion care under a very limited set of circumstances and where medical providers could be criminally prosecuted for providing abortion care. Given the new conservative majority in the Supreme Court, it is a near certainty that they will take the first opportunity to overturn Roe. At the very moment Roe v. Wade is overturned, New Mexico will be thrown back to 1969 and the landscape relating to the provision of abortion care in New Mexico will be turned on its head. That is why it is so important to repeal the Abortion Ban in its entirety this upcoming legislative session. Time is literally running out.

We must remain vigilant. In addition to the overall threat to abortion rights in New Mexico due to the near-certain overturning of Roe v Wade, there are those opportunists who would attempt to capitalize on the COVID-19 pandemic and claim that abortion care is not “essential” and thus abortion care providers should be shut down during the pendency of the pandemic. This is of course nonsense. What could be more essential when it comes to the consequences of being denied abortion care? Yet there are also those who are so desperate and hateful that they argue healthcare workers in New Mexico who bravely and tirelessly stand up to COVID -19 every day should not be called heroes because they work in a facility where abortion care is provided. That type of reasoning can only be called twisted. Where does it end?

The SWLC urges New Mexicans to throw their support behind legislation to repeal the Abortion Ban in its entirety during this upcoming legislative session. You can find your legislator at Find My Legislator. It has to be done this legislative session. If Roe is overturned before the repeal of New Mexico’s Abortion Ban, at the risk of sounding dramatic, life as we know it will change. Please contact your legislators and make sure that you are heard during this very dangerous time in New Mexico. We are counting on you.

To donate to our efforts to repeal New Mexico’s dormant abortion ban, please visit our donation page.

WELL+GOOD: How Americans Really Feel About Abortion Rights in the Year 2020

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via WELL + GOOD, Jessie Van Amburg

Understanding abortion sentiment among Indigenous communities is a bit more complex, as there are hundreds of different tribes in the U.S. with different cultural practices and perspectives. But case studies (and the above data from PRRI) give us a sense that, in general, there is support for abortion rights and access among various different Indigenous groups. A small survey commissioned by the Southwest Women’s Law Center in 2020 found that 81 percent of Native Americans in New Mexico (the population and area studied) agreed with the statement that women and families deserve to make their own health-care decisions without government interference. Additionally, only 25 percent of those surveyed said they would support laws that would make it a criminal offense for doctors to perform abortions.

Terrelene Massey, 44, who is a member of the Navajo Nation and lives in New Mexico, says that, in her experience, Navajo culture deeply shapes how people in her community feel about abortion and other issues. “Traditionally, we are a matrilineal society and women organize, they administer, they manage the household,” she says. From her perspective, she says women in her community are empowered to make their own decisions to manage their families—which extends to their choices about abortion care.

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