Abortion draft decision prompts NM rallies

Several hundred people crowded outside Downtown Albuquerque courthouses Tuesday evening to rally for abortion rights.

“We really need to act and not wait,” said Melissa Belfry, one of the demonstrators who gathered outside the state and federal courthouses, and marched in Downtown Albuquerque. “This is a good start, trying to get folks to show up. We can’t necessarily do anything right now. But, for the midterms, we need to get people fired up now.”

A leaked draft opinion that shows the U.S. Supreme Court may be preparing to overturn the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide sent shockwaves throughout the country, including New Mexico.

Anti-abortion lawmakers and activists praised the opinion. Others who support abortion rights denounced the possible ruling, and said it marked an immediate threat to women’s health and personal freedom.

On Monday, Politico reported a draft opinion showing that a majority of justices favor overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nationwide. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court confirmed the draft’s authenticity. Abortion remains legal. But, if the decision holds, it will make it easier for states throughout the country to put restrictions or bans on abortions.

Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains said the current makeup of the Supreme Court is “hostile to reproductive rights.”

“The Supreme Court has failed this country. If the decision comes down as drafted, this outcome is as dangerous as it is unprecedented, and will open the floodgates for states across the country to ban abortion,” said Adrienne Mansanares, the group’s president and CEO. “As we navigate the implications of this devastating draft, we want to be clear: We’re not going anywhere. Our doors are open, abortion care is legal, and we’re here for our patients today and every day.”

On the other hand, Sid Gutierrez, an Albuquerque native, former astronaut and longtime anti-abortion activist, said he was disappointed with the leaked opinion because he didn’t think it went far enough. He was hoping the court would declare that a fetus is a person with legal protections.

“I would bluntly call it a cop out,” he said.

Americans have mixed feelings about the issue: The Pew Research Center found in 2021 that 59% of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Majorities of both men, 56%, and women, 62%, favor that the procedure be legal.

Abortion is sort of a litmus test for Republicans and Democrats; 80% of people who are Democrat or lean Democratic say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 35% of Republicans share that view.

Those trends held true among New Mexico political insiders.

“If the court can overturn settled law and established precedent like Roe v. Wade, we shouldn’t be surprised when they come for the decisions that guaranteed same-sex marriage and access to birth control,” Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said on Twitter. “This is the tip of a very ugly iceberg.”

Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., said New Mexico will remain a state where women and their families can make their own health care decisions.

“This will not change, regardless of what the Supreme Court decides,” he said.

Luján called on the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and pass a law codifying a woman’s right to an abortion.

The lone Republican in New Mexico’s congressional delegation, Rep. Yvette Herrell, said she is praying the court will ultimately issue an opinion that reverses Roe v. Wade.

“The possible leak of a Supreme Court decision is an unprecedented attack on the independence of the court,” she told supporters on social media. “But, if SCOTUS indeed leans toward protecting Life, I hope you will join me in praying that they decide wisely.”

Officials with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday. But Archbishop John Wester earlier this year spoke against the Legislature’s efforts to roll back abortion restrictions.

The ACLU of New Mexico said in a statement it was outraged by the decision and that the organization would fight for abortion rights.

“We anticipated this possibility, and it is a serious and immediate threat to public health and personal freedom,” said Ellie Rushforth, reproductive rights counsel for the ACLU of New Mexico. “It confirms our deepest fears that the U.S. Supreme Court is ready and willing to attack and undermine our community’s ability to determine the course of our lives.”