Legislative Update! 
Joan Lamunyon Sanford
Joan Lamunyon Sanford, Director
NM RCRC






Our Families, Our Decisions

Success! Thank you to all of you who called, emailed and attended the several committee hearings. We've persevered as politicians pushed through two bills that would interfere with extremely personal decisions about abortion families make according to their own faith and values.

 

On Sunday the Senate Public Affairs committee tabled HB 390 and 391! A vote to table a bill is a procedure that stops a bill from moving any further, but a do not pass vote keeps the bill moving. Please take a minute to thank the five Senate Public Affairs Committee members who voted to table these dangerous bills.

 

Committee Chair, Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino 

Committee Vice-chair, Sen. Bill O'Neill 

Senator Jacob Candelaria 

Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto 

Senator Mimi Stewart 

 

If you attended the committee hearings, or watched online, I hope you didn't miss Rachael's powerful testimony.

 

"In 2013, while working on the Respect Albuquerque Women campaign to defeat a ban on late term abortion, I was overjoyed to find out I was pregnant. I had no idea that just a few weeks after we won that campaign, I would need an emergency abortion myself. Without the doctors and staff who treated me -- I could have bled to death in front of my daughter and partner.

 

New Mexico has a long tradition of respecting our diverse opinions about abortion. And increasingly, we see our communities supporting the idea that abortion is a decision best left to a woman, guided by her faith and informed by her healthcare provider. 

 

I know if I hadn't been able to access that life-saving care two years ago, I wouldn't be here today looking forward to parenting my next child."

 

Rachael asked me to give you this message:

 

When I testified earlier this month in the Roundhouse, I did so as a mother and someone who is also 20 weeks pregnant.That's why I'm disappointed that anti-choice legislators are trying to hijack the process because they don't like the outcome.

 

Right now, state Senator William Sharer is trying to use a legal loophole to resurrect HB 390 and 391 in spite of the vote. To me, bypassing a decision that's already been made through our legislative process is a direct threat to our democratic process. That's not right.

 

It's because of my personal experience needing an emergency abortion to save my life that I'm asking you to tell the Senate to vote NO on HB 390 and 391. Click here to find your Senator. Then call or email to say "Vote NO on HB 390 and 391."

 

 Want to Do More? 
 

Like us on FacebookYellow StripesFollow us on Twitter