NM Supreme Court strikes down anti-abortion ordinances adopted by local governments
The Albuquerque Journal ^ | January 9, 2025 | Dan Boyd
Posted on 01/09/2025 3:48:35 PM PST by CedarDave
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments cannot restrict abortion services, striking down ordinances adopted by Clovis, Hobbs and two eastern New Mexico counties.
The unanimous ruling came more than one year after the state's highest court heard arguments in a case brought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez that attracted several outside groups.
In their ruling, the justices said the local anti-abortion ordinances violate state law and overstep the authority local governments hold by seeking to regulate health care access.
"Our Legislature granted to counties and municipalities all powers and duties not inconsistent with the laws of New Mexico," Justice Shannon Bacon wrote in her opinion.
"The ordinances violate this core precept and invade the Legislature’s authority to regulate access to and provision of reproductive health care," she also wrote.
In all, at least six New Mexico jurisdictions — the cities of Clovis, Hobbs, Eunice and Edgewood and Lea and Roosevelt counties — adopted ordinances that activists call de facto abortion bans.
Several of the ordinances restricted the operation of abortion clinics — even though most of the towns do not have any clinics — and allowed for legal action to be taken against anyone who receives medication intended to cause an abortion through the mail.
The legal showdown over abortion in New Mexico came after state lawmakers in 2021 approved a measure repealing a long-dormant state abortion ban.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark ruling of Roe v. Wade a year later, prompting some neighboring states, including Texas, to approve near-total abortion bans.
In addition, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed measures in 2023 aimed at shielding New Mexico abortion providers from out-of-state arrest warrants and lawsuits and blocking the local anti-abortion ordinances from taking effect.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: New Mexico
KEYWORDS: abortion; newmexico
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1 posted on 01/09/2025 3:48:35 PM PST by CedarDave
To: LegendHasIt; leapfrog0202; Santa Fe_Conservative; DesertDreamer; OneWingedShark; CougarGA7; ...
NM list PING!
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2 posted on 01/09/2025 3:50:47 PM PST by CedarDave (New tagline under development)
To: CedarDave
reproductive health care
Pffffft. So they don't have to speak the unspeakable truth.
3 posted on 01/09/2025 3:58:09 PM PST by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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