With 14 states now banning abortion and some abortion fund providers and abortion clinics in other states reporting donor fatigue, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said New Mexico is in a better place than most.
Lujan Grisham and others took questions from the media on Thursday during the groundbreaking for the Las Cruces-based reproductive healthcare center that is expected to be complete within 18 months. In response to a question about the growing financial gap for abortion patients, Lujan Grisham said how healthcare is financed “makes no sense.”
Related: Guv: Las Cruces groundbreaking of new reproductive healthcare clinic ‘the beginning’
She talked in broad terms about policy efforts she has supported to curb costs and keep healthcare affordable for individuals who live in New Mexico. She said that New Mexico “pays for abortion care not through [federal] Medicaid but through state funds.”
“And as long as I’m governor, we will,” she said.
Lujan Grisham said that in the face of an increased need for abortion access in safe-haven states and the associated costs of long-distance travel and the decrease in donations, that “New Mexico is in a very lucky place in this context.”
Lujan Grisham said that New Mexico has tried to tackle some issues of affordability in healthcare and its impact on rural communities with the New Mexico Rural Healthcare Fund, a law the state enacted in 2023. The fund provides grants to health care facilities in 28 of the state’s 33 counties. The grant money covers operating losses and will be for between one and five years of operation. The program provides funds aimed at expanding existing and creating new health care services in communities that face gaps in healthcare.
Related: Grant program distributes $62 million to rural health care organizations
Lujan Grisham said the state is also working on increasing Medicaid reimbursements to 150 percent. Advocates have said that this is important in part because more than 70 percent of births in the state are covered by Medicaid and nearly half of state residents are covered by Medicaid.
Lujan Grisham also said she didn’t want to “candy coat” the problem. She said “we have to have more accountability for insurance companies.”
She said the state is underwriting medical malpractice insurance for OB-GYNs. She said the state is adding midwives and doulas to state Medicaid coverage. She said she has “very little control over the private market,” but she is working on coming up with “additional strategies,” on the gap in rising costs and the difficulties of paying for it.
But, Lujan Grisham said that given the climate around healthcare in the U.S., the state will be “chasing money for a long time.”
Dr. Eve Espey, professor and chair of the Department of OB-GYN and Family Planning fellowship director at the University of New Mexico, also addressed the question by saying “funding is a big issue.” The University of New Mexico is one of the four partners involved in the building of the new Las Cruces facility.
“We are super lucky to be one of 11 states using state Medicaid funds [for abortion]. But that doesn’t cover the people coming from Texas, who rely on abortion funds,” she said.
In addition, Adrienne Mansanares, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, recently told NM Political Report that abortion care can be more complex due to comorbidities occuring because of “cracks in the system” in healthcare nationally.
“It’s very real and the healthcare crisis is getting worse, particularly in under-resourced states that have not expanded Medicaid coverage. If they haven’t had access to healthcare, their abortion care is much more complicated,” Mansanares said.
Espey said abortion funds and clinics had robust donations initially, after Texas enacted its six week gestational ban in 2021. But, she said, that has “trailed off.”
She said it’s a problem that requires a national solution.
“It’s never going to be sustainable to rely on donations for basic healthcare,” she said.
A new tool implemented by a grassroots organization associated with Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, called Gloria, got started, in part, because of a concern that abortion fund providers cannot meet all the needs of out-of-state patients, particularly as donors become fatigued.
Related: New tool launches to offset donor fatigue for reproductive rights aid
Charlene Bencomo, executive director of Bold Futures, which is also one of the four partners behind the clinic in Las Cruces, said that one difference in the new Las Cruces clinic, is that, when complete, will be a “full spectrum, community-advised healthcare center with a diverse stream of services provided.” She said it is not just an abortion clinic, although it is expected to provide both medication abortion and procedural abortion.