Preserving Access to Reproductive HealthCare
By Ellie Rushforth, Senior Attorney
Access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare is essential if New Mexican women
and their families are to achieve physical and economic autonomy. Access to
abortion services and information is an essential part of that healthcare. A woman’s
health and well-being should never depend on who she is, where she lives, how much
money she makes, or her political representative.
While New Mexico women currently enjoy strong laws and policies that protect their
access to reproductive healthcare, New Mexico women seem to regularly face legislators
and out of state organizations who want to minimize their access to reproductive
healthcare by introducing and supporting bills that interfere with those rights.
Although the 2018 legislative session was a short 30-day session, HB 56 proposing
forced parental notification of abortion for young people under the age of 17 was
introduced. The bill would have compelled minors to notify a parent or guardian before
they were able to access a safe and legal abortion. This type of dangerous legislation has
been introduced repeatedly over the past few years and ignores the fact that young
people who are pregnant usually do talk to their parents, or trusted adults, when
determining whether an abortion is the right path for them.
We recognize that strong family communication is built on trust. It is not built on a
foundation of governmental interference. Young people deserve to be able to access
confidential reproductive health care and should not be forced to follow a road that the
government paves for them that could put their safety, well-being, and health at risk.
A frightening number of restrictions that interfere with a woman’s ability to make her
own personal decisions are being enacted in many states and at the federal level.
However, the Southwest Women’s Law Center is committed to opposing restrictive
legislation that serves no purpose other than to be a barrier to women’s reproductive
healthcare. We continue to collaborate with our partners in the Coalition for Choice
coordinating legislative advocacy, grassroots organizing, and providing public education
and awareness regarding the preservation of reproductive privacy for women and men
regardless of age, economic, or ethnic background.
We continue to stand steadfast with other advocates around the stated to ensure that
abortion remains safe and legal, without governmental interference in women’s
decisions. Learn more about our work and our advocacy on this important issue by
visiting our website and by following us on Facebook and Twitter. Join us in our
continued fight to ensure all women and families always have access to comprehensive
reproductive health care! Donate to the Southwest Women’s Law Center.