Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Tuesday that she is joining an alliance of governors to expand, strengthen and protect reproductive rights in the U.S.
The alliance of 20 governors, called the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, is a multi-state, nonpartisan alliance representing over 170 million individuals, according to a news release. It is the largest alliance of its type ever assembled and the founding members have agreed to work collaboratively to expand reproductive rights and fight reproductive restrictions, according to the release.
“I am proud to join with 19 fellow governors to protect the rights of every person to a full array of reproductive health services, including abortion. Those rights are fundamental, no matter which state you live in. This historic alliance will continue to work to guarantee reproductive freedom in each of our states and to restore that right to every woman in America,” Lujan Grisham said through the release.
Governors from the 19 states are: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
The 2021 Legislature passed a bill to repeal an antiquated 1969 anti-abortion statute, which Lujan Grisham signed into law. She signed executive orders last year to protect the privacy of abortion providers and patients and to pledge $10 million for a full-spectrum reproductive healthcare clinic in Las Cruces.
Legislators have introduced two reproductive rights bills into the 2023 Legislature. One of those, SB 13, Reproductive Health Provider Protections, sponsored by state Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, would codify Lujan Grisham’s executive order to protect providers from out-of-state interests targeting abortion clinics for information.
“As governors representing nearly 170 million people across every region of the country, we are standing with all people who believe in reproductive freedom and health care. We are standing with them to say, ‘enough.’ In the last year alone, over 36 million women have lost access to critical health care with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Medication abortion – one of the safest forms of health care for decades now – may be stripped from our clinics and hospitals nationwide. Doctors face criminal prosecution for providing care. Extremists are trying to restrict access to contraception – and we know they won’t stop there. In the face of this unprecedented assault by states hostile to abortion rights and their enablers in the courts, we are pledging to work together to strengthen abortion firewalls across America. This fight isn’t over,” the Governors said in a joint statement.
In many states, patients, doctors, and other health care providers face criminal prosecution for providing or receiving abortion care.
