Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act

What can Biden’s executive order to protect reproductive access actually accomplish

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President Joe Biden’s executive order to protect reproductive rights and care announced earlier this month can only do so much without Congressional budgetary support. The order directs federal agencies, particularly the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] to safeguard access to abortion care and contraception, protect the privacy of patients, promote the safety and security of both patients and providers and to coordinate federal efforts to protect reproductive access and rights. But, Biden’s ability to affect change on the current state of abortion care now that the court has overturned Roe v. Wade is “handcuffed” by a lack of action from the U.S. Congress, Noreen Farrell, attorney and executive director with the nonprofit Equal Rights Advocates, told NM Political Report. “Obviously, there’s some congressional handcuffs on the scope and impact of executive action,” Farrell said. Farrell called the order “a plan to make a plan.”

A few days after Biden’s order, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra issued guidance that states that providers must continue to follow the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, a federal law that requires that all patients receive an examination, stabilizing treatment and transfer, if necessary, as needed, irrespective of state laws that apply to specific procedures.

Joe Biden

Biden expands LGTBQIA+ rights in sweeping executive order

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President Joe Biden signed an executive order earlier this month to expand equality for LGBTQIA+ individuals. The order is sweeping and involves several different federal agencies. It says that while the U.S. has advanced LGBTQIA+ rights in significant ways, much still needs to be done, particularly for transgender individuals and LGBTQIA+ individuals of color. Marshall Martinez, executive director of Equality New Mexico, said this is the “first time a sitting president has made such clear statements about queer and trans people.”

“It’s definitely a refreshing break from what we’ve been hearing and seeing so much of,” Martinez said. There has been an uptick of anti-trans bills introduced into state legislatures in recent years, according to LGTBQIA+ advocates.

ACLU-NM

ACLU again calling on Lujan Grisham to expand prison releases to slow the spread of COVID-19

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The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico is once again calling on state officials, namely the governor and her Department of Corrections secretary, to expand their efforts to lower prison populations in light of COVID-19. The ACLU-NM sent a letter Tuesday to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and her legal counsel, asking the state to revisit the issue of how to lower inmate populations as a way to increase social distancing and slow the spread of COVID-19 within prison walls. 

The letter praised Lujan Grisham for the “bold measures” she has taken to protect New Mexicans in general, but went on to invoke a quote from Nelson Mandela while encouraging the governor to consider inmates’ health. 

“We ask you to apply the same strong, decisive, and forward-thinking approach to protect the lives of incarcerated New Mexicans as you have for the rest of the state,” the letter read. “After all, ‘a nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it’s lowest ones’– a notion that could not be more glaring than during this pandemic.”

The letter asks the governor to not just release inmates about 30 days before they are scheduled to leave, but to also consider early parole for some inmates and to consider releasing inmates who are serving prison sentences as a result of technical parole or probation violations. 

But ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Lalita Moskowitz, who is also a cosigner of the letter, told NM Political Report that a key ask from the organization is transparency. 

State health officials and the governor’s office have consistently released information about how many people in the state have tested positive for the disease among a long list of other things. But Moskowitz said the ACLU would like to see specific breakdowns regarding how many tests were performed within prisons and how many staff members tested positive. 

“[Inmates’] families and the communities that are surrounding these facilities really deserve to know what’s going on there and deserve to be kept aware and not have to be wondering if there’s an outbreak we don’t know about, or if they’re testing anyone after a positive case,” Moskowitz said. 

In April, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order to release inmates, who meet certain qualifications, 30 days before their scheduled release date. By May, the ACLU-NM and the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender asked the state supreme court to intervene and compel the governor’s office to broaden the scope of who can be released and when.