With their neighboring states having chosen to vote incredibly strict abortion regulations into law, one southwestern state is preparing for an influx of women in seek of reproductive health care they aren’t allowed to receive locally.
In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, Texas has locked the vast majority of women out of abortion access, Oklahoma has banned abortion from the moment of conception, and Arizona seems prepped to enact similarly strict regulations, with many clinics having already halted those services.
In response to what they expect will be a steady flow of women from both states, New Mexico now has plans to build a brand new reproductive health facility near the border the state shares with Texas, the state’s Doña Ana County.
The project was announced Wednesday by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, who said the facility will offer “the full spectrum of reproductive health care,” including postpartum support and preventive services.
“As more states move to restrict and prohibit access to reproductive care, New Mexico will continue to not only protect access to abortion, but to expand and strengthen reproductive health care throughout the state,” she said.
The move is only the latest pro-choice salvo fired by Grisham, who signed an executive order in June barring any of the state’s law enforcement agencies from extraditing anyone under investigation for violating abortion restrictions in other states seeking to criminalize the procedure.
Grisham hopes the effect will be to create a safe haven for women needing certain reproductive health care services in the southwestern U.S.
“The goal here is, build it, and they will come,” she said.
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