At New Mexico rallies, people call potential end of Roe v. Wade ‘tragic’

Marlene Simon, one of scores of people who gathered to protest Tuesday evening outside the federal courthouse in Santa Fe, said she now worries other women will have to experience what she went through in 1969.

Just 19 years old, she had an illegal abortion after she was raped.

Simon said she was scared and ashamed and had no one to talk to about the ordeal.

“When Roe came, I was so grateful,” she added.

Tuesday’s protest came less than 24 hours after the leak of a U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion indicated justices could overturn the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade that found stringent state restrictions on abortion access and outright bans were unconstitutional. The event was one of many nationwide held in response to the leaked opinion.

Santa Fe City Councilor Signe Lindell, who attended Tuesday’s event, said she never thought she would have to dig out an old pink shirt she wore in the 1970s that said, “Keep your hands off our bodies.”

“This is a tragic decision for the whole country and particularly for women that struggle economically,” Lindell said.

Many demonstrators said women of color and minorities would be the ones most affected if the Roe v. Wade decision were overturned. Others worried conservative lawmakers would soon set their sights on dismantling other freedoms, such as gay marriage.

The Supreme Court’s decision would outlaw abortion in 23 states, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

New Mexico residents will still have the right to seek an abortion, thanks to Senate Bill 10, the 2021 Respect New Mexico Women and Families Act, which repealed a 1969 state statute that prohibited doctors from performing the procedure.

While the ruling in Roe v. Wade made the New Mexico law unenforceable a few years after it took effect, lawmakers and advocates for abortion access believed SB 10 would ensure access to abortion remains available in the state if an increasingly conservative U.S. Supreme Court whittled away abortion rights amid a push in Texas and many other states to enact severe restrictions.

“I’m saddened and disheartened that our highest court appears ready to reverse Roe v. Wade and deprive patients across the country access to health care options, including abortion,” said state Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, who was a sponsor of SB 10. “Thankfully, the New Mexico Legislature repealed our outdated criminal abortion ban in 2021. We will continue fighting to ensure abortion remains an accessible and safe health care option in our state.”

Janet Williams, the president of Santa Fe NOW, the local chapter of the National Organization for Women, said more people likely will come to New Mexico in search of abortion services if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

“Colorado and New Mexico are the only two places that people can go to in this part of the country,” Williams said. “I think we’re gonna have to figure out a way to open more clinics.”

Williams said Santa Fe NOW’s next step is to encourage state lawmakers to pass laws that would shield people from facing penalties under other states’ anti-abortion laws, similar to a far-reaching bill recently passed by the Connecticut Senate that would protect the medical records of women from other states who seek abortions there and includes provisions protecting providers from liabilities in other states.

Williams said she hopes New Mexico will become a safe haven for those seeking abortions, something Republicans in the state are trying to combat.

“It breaks my heart that women from near and far will come to our beloved state for the sole purpose of ending their pregnancies,” Republican state Sen. Crystal Diamond of Elephant Butte said in a statement Tuesday. “As New Mexicans, we can no longer shirk our duty to stand on this issue. We must address it with compassion for women without compromising our ultimate duty to defend the life of the innocent.”

News that the nation’s highest court is considering overturning Roe v. Wade sent shockwaves across the country.

Democrats and pro-abortion activists expressed feelings of “outrage and horror.”

“This decision is catastrophic and will have consequences that will negatively impact generations,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who signed SB 10 into law in February 2021, said in a statement. “The ramifications of this decision would be swift and devastating for women across the country.”

The Republican Party of New Mexico praised the leaked opinion but condemned the person who leaked it.

“It’s abhorrent that the draft of the opinion was leaked,” the party said in a statement. “This was an absolute breach of trust, reprehensible and deeply disturbing to know that this was released to perhaps manipulate the decision. This leak is a felony, and authorities must investigate and prosecute those responsible.”

The state’s Republican and Democratic parties said upcoming elections will be critical when it comes to the future of abortion access in New Mexico.

U.S. Sens. Ben Ray Luján and Martin Heinrich, New Mexico Democrats, released statements urging the U.S. Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would codify the right to an abortion.

“The Senate must eliminate the filibuster immediately to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and other vital pieces of legislation. The fight continues — I am not giving up now, and I never will,” Luján said.