Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s campaign stop for former U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell included protesters.
Johnson stopped by for the launch of a Republican field office in Las Cruces and spoke during the grand opening on Wednesday.
Herrell is a Republican trying to win back the 2nd Congressional District seat from the current holder, Democrat House Rep. Gabe Vasquez. She cut the ribbon on her new Las Cruces field office, which Republicans are calling a “Battle Station.” The National Republican Congressional Committee hosted the grand opening.
“The new Battle Station will serve as a hub of the grassroots team that will help elect Yvette Herrell and Republicans up and down the ballot this November,” Republicans said in a media invitation to the grand opening.
But groups critical of some of both Herrell and Johnson’s positions and legislative priorities protested the grand opening. The Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium announced they were holding a protest on Wednesday in response. The group has criticized Johnson for not allowing a bill that had bipartisan support to be heard on the House floor. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act would have included more people from New Mexico before the sunset window expired.
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ProgressNow New Mexico* also protested the field office’s grand opening with a mobile billboard highlighting both Herrell and Johnson’s voting record in support of anti-abortion legislation.
Jacqueline Aguirre, reproductive justice manager with ProgressNow New Mexico, said through a news release that “the Republican Party has declared war on anyone with a uterus across this country and Herrell’s track record of advocating for total abortion bans highlights how she is fully on board with taking away the basic rights of New Mexicans.”
Herrell has been accused by Democrats and pro-abortion groups as waffling on her position on abortion. She has often billed herself as a “pro-life” candidate on social media and during interviews, such as the one held in Valencia County hosted by Republicans where she said she wished for an abortion ban in New Mexico. She has a record of supporting both bans and anti-abortion legislation. She was a co-sponsor on the Life at Conception Act in 2021 in the House of Representatives.
But, since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago and public opinion polls, as well as Democratic wins have shown that the majority of Americans do not agree with the bans, Herrell announced that she no longer supports a national ban on abortion.
“Since the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade was handed down by the Supreme Court, abortion policies are no longer a federal issue, which is why I would not vote for a national abortion ban. As a pro-life woman, it is important to me that we extend every option available to those who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy to help them make an informed decision, including access to women’s health care services, adoption opportunities, and counseling. I will also continue to fully support pro-family fertility treatments like IVF that provide hope for so many American families who want to experience the gift of parenthood, as well as supporting increased access to birth control methods,” Herrell said in an emailed statement to NM Political Report.
Democrats and abortion rights advocates have pushed back on Herrell’s position, particularly that she supports IVF treatment. Because she co-sponsored the 2021 Life at Conception Act, which states, in part, that life is “vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization…” which, if enacted, would create a legal quandary for IVF clinics.
Alissa Barnes, executive director of ProgressNow New Mexico, said through a news release, that Herrell’s current position on abortion and IVF treatment is a “misinformation campaign.”
The mobile billboards also highlighted Johnson’s vote for the Life at Conception Act in 2021. Johnson calls himself a “pro-lifer” and was also one of 166 Republican cosponsors of the Life at Conception Act in 2021.
Johnson’s campaign communications, in lieu of a statement to NM Political Report, pointed to Johnson’s recent public statements that the U.S. Congress “supports IVF treatment,” and to an interview he did with Politico where he said that, while he believes in “the sanctity of human life,” he also believes that abortion access is in the hands of each state to decide.
*ProgressNow New Mexico helps NM Political Report find funding. ProgressNow New Mexico has no editorial input or control over NM Political Report’s content.