New Mexico is quickly turning into an abortion vacation spot below Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, however her efforts are assembly with stiff resistance from pro-life New Mexicans residing alongside the Texas border.
The city of Eunice, New Mexico, inhabitants 2,997, filed a lawsuit in opposition to a newly signed invoice that forestalls localities from banning abortion inside their limits after a spate of communities voted to declare themselves sanctuary cities for the unborn.
“It gives me great honor to say here in our nation’s capital: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Raul Torrez, we will see you in court,” stated Eunice Mayor Billy Hobbs at a Monday press convention in entrance of the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Eunice City Council voted unanimously at a Jan. 23 assembly to declare itself a “sanctuary city for the unborn,” the identical day that Mr. Torrez sued the cities of Hobbs and Clovis, in addition to Lea and Roosevelt counties, for beforehand approving sanctuary ordinances.
“This is not Texas,” Mr. Torrez stated in a press launch then. “Our State Constitution does not allow cities, counties or private citizens to restrict women’s reproductive rights. Today’s action should send a strong message that my Office will use every available tool to swiftly and decisively uphold individual liberties against unconstitutional overreach.”
The Democrat-controlled legislature adopted up final month by passing House Bill 7 to override the native abortion bans, however the grievance filed in state court docket argues that the measure is trumped by the Comstock Act, the 150-year-old federal legislation barring the mailing of abortion-inducing medicine and paraphernalia.
“We already have a de facto federal abortion ban here in America, and every single abortion industry in New Mexico is in violation of these federal abortion statutes,” stated Republican state Sen. David Gallegos on the Monday announcement.
He added: “Madam Governor, consider yourself Comstocked.”
The Governor of New Mexico and Attorney General of New Mexico have been sued. The lawsuit may be learn right here. #therighttolife #thefightforlife #fromconceptiontillnaturaldeath #unbornlivesmatter #loveoneanother #COMSTOCKEDhttps://t.co/dCM4aSlGEM
— Mark Lee Dickson (@MarkLeeDickson) April 17, 2023
The Eunice lawsuit, which was filed Monday in New Mexico’s fifth Judicial District Court for Lea County, names as defendants the governor and legal professional common of their official capacities.
New Mexico localities started taking motion final yr as Whole Women’s Health closed its Texas clinics and commenced scouting places in southeastern New Mexico.
After Hobbs and Clovis authorized the sanctuary ordinances, the corporate opted to arrange store in left-leaning Albuquerque, about 200 miles from the Texas border. Hobbs, Clovis and Eunice all lie 10 miles or much less from the sting of the Lone Star State.
Lori Bova, Right to Life of Lea County spokesperson, accused Mr. Torrez of taking “punitive action” with the lawsuits.
“Our state legislature also passed a bill that was signed into law by our governor trying to render the local ordinances moot,” Ms. Bova stated. “Our state leaders seem to wield unending power, but I will tell you one thing today: They do not have the power to ignore federal law.”
Since 2019, 65 cities and two counties have handed “sanctuary city for the unborn” measures, however not like these in different states, the New Mexico ordinances particularly point out the Comstock Act, stated Mark Lee Dickson, director of Right to Life of East Texas.
“We realized early on we couldn’t pass an ordinance in New Mexico like the ones which were passed in Texas,” stated Mr. Dickson, founding father of the sanctuary motion. “We couldn’t pass an explicit abortion ban in New Mexico because the New Mexico legislature was likely going to prohibit cities from passing those kinds of abortion bans.”
Therefore, he tailored.
“So what did we do? We devised a new way to pass sanctuary city for the unborn ordinances, and that was by relying on federal statutes which were passed by Congress in 1873,” Mr. Dickson stated.
The Comstock Act was nullified by the Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which then itself was undone by the excessive court docket’s June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The Justice Department has largely dismissed the Comstock Act, arguing in a December authorized opinion that the 2 medicine used within the abortion protocol produce other functions, and that the sender should know that they are going to be used illegally for the legislation to use.
While the Biden administration could not take the Comstock Act critically, the identical can’t be stated of the federal judiciary.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk stated in his April 7 preliminary injunction suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone that the “plain text of the Comstock Act controls.”
The fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed him up days later.
“We hesitate to find ‘clear and manifest’ intention to repeal a 150-year-old statute that Congress has otherwise repeatedly declined to alter in the far reaches of a single section of the cavernous FDA [Amendments Act],” stated the appeals court docket in its April 12 ruling.
New Mexico, although, is roofed by the tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Lujan Grisham has rolled out the welcome mat for clinics post-Roe, pledging $10 million for a brand new abortion facility in Dona Ana County and signing laws to guard suppliers from out-of-state prosecutions.
The Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Act, which she signed March 16, “prohibits public bodies, including local municipalities, from denying, restricting, or discriminating against an individual’s right to use or refuse reproductive health care or health care related to gender.”
New Mexico has no gestational limits on abortion, which means the process is authorized all through being pregnant, whereas Texas bans most abortions.
“New Mexicans in every corner of our state deserve protections for their bodily autonomy and right to health care,” stated Ms. Lujan Grisham in her signing assertion. “I’m grateful for the hard work of the Legislature and community partners in getting this critical legislation across the finish line.”
• Alex Swoyer contributed to this report.
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