Posted on Feb 8, 2023
Top officials challenge local abortion ordinances — but could the strategy backfire?
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Last June, after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Whole Woman's Health closed four clinics in Texas and started fundraising to move their operations to New Mexico, where the procedure remains legal.
They looked at opening in cities close to the Texas border, like Clovis and Hobbs.
But much of the east of the state is conservative, and by November, commissioners in Hobbs had proposed an ordinance strictly limiting access to abortion and were hearing public comment.
In a recording of a November 7 meeting, resident Henry DeLara can be seen stepping up.
"We here in New Mexico happen to be a very abortion-friendly state," he said. "But right here in Hobbs today, this night, we can push back. We can make a statement that: No! Not here in this county, not here in this city and eventually not here in this state."
They looked at opening in cities close to the Texas border, like Clovis and Hobbs.
But much of the east of the state is conservative, and by November, commissioners in Hobbs had proposed an ordinance strictly limiting access to abortion and were hearing public comment.
In a recording of a November 7 meeting, resident Henry DeLara can be seen stepping up.
"We here in New Mexico happen to be a very abortion-friendly state," he said. "But right here in Hobbs today, this night, we can push back. We can make a statement that: No! Not here in this county, not here in this city and eventually not here in this state."
Top officials challenge local abortion ordinances — but could the strategy backfire?
Posted from kunm.org
Abortion
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I will fight against theocratic encroachment on free society until I draw my last breath.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Now, Democratic lawmakers and the Attorney General are pushing back against the insubordinate local authorities, finding themselves at the center of a legal debate that some think could form the next frontline in the struggle over abortion rights, with the potential even to rise to the US Supreme Court.
"It's funny when I look back on it, and it's sort of like, man, it all happened really quickly," said Laura Wight, co-founder of Eastern New Mexico Rising, which organizes in support of abortion access.
A librarian at Eastern New Mexico University in Clovis, she noticed anti-abortion campaigners from Texas were coming to town toward the end of last summer , organizing prayer rallies at churches.
Then she said her group realized, "one of the churches was going to bring this issue to the city commission as wanting to try and put forward this 'sanctuary city' ordinance." It passed in early January.
The ordinances restricting abortion access in the counties and cities look similar to one another, and resemble ones passed in Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska. That is because the anti-abortion group Wight saw coming to town helps write regulations and rally local support across those states.
Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn is a movement led by Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life East Texas, and lawyer Jonathan F. Mitchell, who used to be the Texas solicitor general.
At a meeting in the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Rio Rancho last month, Dickson explained his strategy in a confident, passionate address to an audience of a few dozen supporters.
"We saw the overturning of Roe v. Wade," he said, "And my life ended up getting way busier. People thought that I would slow down. No! It just got more intense."...
..."Now, Democratic lawmakers and the Attorney General are pushing back against the insubordinate local authorities, finding themselves at the center of a legal debate that some think could form the next frontline in the struggle over abortion rights, with the potential even to rise to the US Supreme Court.
"It's funny when I look back on it, and it's sort of like, man, it all happened really quickly," said Laura Wight, co-founder of Eastern New Mexico Rising, which organizes in support of abortion access.
A librarian at Eastern New Mexico University in Clovis, she noticed anti-abortion campaigners from Texas were coming to town toward the end of last summer , organizing prayer rallies at churches.
Then she said her group realized, "one of the churches was going to bring this issue to the city commission as wanting to try and put forward this 'sanctuary city' ordinance." It passed in early January.
The ordinances restricting abortion access in the counties and cities look similar to one another, and resemble ones passed in Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska. That is because the anti-abortion group Wight saw coming to town helps write regulations and rally local support across those states.
Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn is a movement led by Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life East Texas, and lawyer Jonathan F. Mitchell, who used to be the Texas solicitor general.
At a meeting in the Gospel Light Baptist Church in Rio Rancho last month, Dickson explained his strategy in a confident, passionate address to an audience of a few dozen supporters.
"We saw the overturning of Roe v. Wade," he said, "And my life ended up getting way busier. People thought that I would slow down. No! It just got more intense."...
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