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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.

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;
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  • 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.

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