The New Mexico Legislature’s 2015 opening week coincides with the anniversary of the polarizing Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, and activists who oppose abortion say they hope a powershift in the legislature will shift state laws in their favor.
New Mexico is increasingly becoming a crossroads for abortion policy and rhetoric. While some states are advancing more restrictive legislation limiting access to abortions or requiring additional medical procedures before abortions may be performed, New Mexico remains one of the few states in the countries with laws protecting a woman's right to abortion through term.
Opponents attempted to pass the nation's first municipal abortion ban by ballot initiative in Albuquerque in 2013. Voters defeated that measure, but groups on both sides of the debate are increasingly more public and engaging in this issue across the state. As this debate emerges as a central theme of political battles across the state, the New Mexico Political Report examines the state of abortion and women's rights in New Mexico.