A New Mexico House committee passed legislation Wednesday that pro-life advocates say would protect abortionists who kill unborn babies in elective abortions from prosecution and potentially even allow infanticide.
The state House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 13, a pro-abortion bill with the stated goal of “protecting the privacy” of abortionists, patients and others involved in aborting unborn babies. The bill already passed the state Senate in a 26-16 vote last week.
New Mexico Alliance for Life slammed the legislation as “dangerous” in an email Wednesday. A companion to state House Bill 7, the bill defines abortion and transgender procedures as “protected health care” and prohibits “abusive litigation” against those who provide it.
The ACLJ, a leading pro-life law firm, said the two bills together potentially could allow infanticide in New Mexico, a state that already allows abortions up to birth.
“HB 7 and HB 13 do contain the term ‘perinatal’ as one of the elements of reproductive health care with which the government [or agent of] cannot interfere, deny or restrict,” ACLJ attorney Olivia Summers said. “By including the section that prohibits prosecution or punishment for not seeking perinatal care, the bill appears to be a cleverly crafted way to specifically protect against a failure to seek perinatal care for a baby born alive following a botched abortion.”
State Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Bernalillo, denied that her bill would allow infanticide during the Senate debate last week.
ACTION ALERT: Contact the New Mexico House and urge legislators to oppose the bill.
New Mexico Alliance for Life leaders also expressed concerns about new language in the bill that says any electronic communication related to “protected health care activity” that could be construed as an intent to harass, intimidate or cause “emotional distress” could be punished with fines of up to $10,000.
New Mexico has some of the most pro-abortion laws in the country. The state allows unborn babies to be aborted for any reason up to birth and forces taxpayers to pay for their deaths.
Its Democrat leaders have been working aggressively to expand abortions even more since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a supposed Catholic, recently promised to spend $10 million of taxpayers’ money to build a new abortion facility near the Texas border. Texas laws protect unborn babies from abortion.
Recently, several city and county governments in conservative parts of New Mexico have passed ordinances to protect unborn babies from abortion and prevent abortion businesses from opening there. These ordinances have angered pro-abortion Democrat leaders, and another bill moving through the state legislature, House Bill 7, would fine local governments $5,000 or more for supposedly interfering with access to abortion.
ACTION ALERT: Contact the New Mexico House and urge legislators to oppose the bill.
