One Year After Dobbs – Statement from the Democratic Party of New Mexico
On the One-Year Anniversary of the Dobbs Decision, DPNM Chair Velasquez Reflects on the Status of Reproductive Rights
ALBUQUERQUE – Today marks one year since the US Supreme Court’s Dobbsv. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, overturning nearly 50 years of legal protections established in Roe vs. Wade and destroying the federally-protected right to access safe and legal abortions for Americans in many states. The Supreme Court’s decision one year ago today stole the right to decide when and how they may choose to grow a family from countless Americans. This catastrophic decision has and will continue to cost lives by eliminating critical health care and robs individuals of their constitutional right to privacy and ability to make personal decisions about their own body, health, and family.
Statement from DPNM Chair Jessica Velasquez:
“While abortion access remains protected in New Mexico, in other states, women and doctors are exposed to punishment, imprisonment, public interference, and violence for seeking reproductive health care. The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision stole fundamental rights from so many and will continue to inflict pain and suffering on countless Americans, but we cannot give up. As Democrats, it’s our duty to do everything possible to safeguard the right to abortion at the local and state level and reinstate those protections nationwide.”
“New Mexico continues to set a national example with laws that protect reproductive rights and access to healthcare because we elect Democratic leaders who champion reproductive freedom. We must maintain our diligence in electing Democrats up-and-down the ballot, year after year, to ensure those laws remain in place in New Mexico and become codified federally. Although we mourn the loss of personal freedom stolen from us a year ago today, the majority of Americans support the right to safe and legal abortion, and Democrats are as determined as ever to continue this fight.”
Despite recent polling that shows 59 percent of US adults oppose the Dobbs decision, Republican candidates and government officials at every level have made it clear they want to pass legislation that would restrict abortion, punish women, and criminalize doctors in New Mexico and across the country.
GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump appointed 3 of the justices who voted to overturn Roe v Wade and is vocally taking credit for the decision on the campaign trail. Yvette Herrell celebrated the Dobbs decision and co-sponsored the Life at Conception Act that would ban all abortion, even when the woman’s life is at risk, and restrict access to commonly used contraceptives. The fundamental right to one’s own reproductive health is a core tenet of the Democratic Party of New Mexico’s platform, and we will never stop fighting to protect every American’s right to make their own healthcare decisions.
President Joe Biden has issued executive orders to strengthen access to reproductive medical care and contraceptives and has continually called on Congress to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, abortion access in New Mexico remains protected because of the actions taken by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democratic leaders in our state legislature to overturn New Mexico’s outdated abortion ban in 2021, which preemptively protected abortion access in our state before the Dobbs decision. Earlier this year, New Mexico Democrats enshrined into law House Bill 7, which prevents municipalities from placing restrictions on reproductive health care and abortion, and Senate Bill 13, prohibiting entities in New Mexico from sharing patient information related to reproductive health care to keep patients and providers safe from other states that would seek to punish them for receiving this critical care in our state. To keep these protections in place here in New Mexico, we must continue to elect Democrats up and down the ballot.