Tuesday, June 28, 2022Governor Game Changer? MLG Presses Bet On Roe; Signs Off On Executive Order That Lowers Hammer On Pro-Life Crowd, Plus: NM "Abortion Tourism" Or Vital Medical Care?
Surrounded by an all female cast of supporting players, the Governor signed an executive order that lowered the hammer on the pro-life crowd: . . .(This order protects) access to reproductive health care services in New Mexico, protecting medical providers from attempts at legal retribution and establishing that New Mexico will not entertain extradition attempts from other states relating to receiving or performing reproductive services.
“Today we have once again declared that we will take every available action to protect the rights and access to health care of anyone in New Mexico. As long as I am governor, abortion will continue to be legal, safe, and accessible in New Mexico.” Full news conference here. This is the type of decisive action that Democratic voters--overwhelmingly pro-choice--have been looking for in the wake of the repeal of Roe. The NMGOP called it "political theater" but for now it's a box office hit. Thousands of women are expected to come here in the wake of the high court ruling that gave states the power to enact and enforce stern anti-abortion laws. Texas is chief among them and our state's abortion clinics are already bursting with clients from there because of a new law that caps abortion at 6 weeks of pregnancy. It was a mild surprise that pro-life GOP state Senator Crystal Dimond did not come with a lament that the state was about to become the nation's "abortion capital" and also decry the late term abortions that are permitted here. The state GOP did exactly that in its reaction but Dimond took a different tack: . . . By using her executive order pen today, she is ignoring the tidal wave of issues our healthcare system is facing under her watch. Thousands will now flock to our state for abortions at a time when we are already struggling to provide care to those who need it most. It is time for the Governor to stop pandering to donors and out of state interests, and put the needs of New Mexicans first. That's a far cry from the red meat being thrown by GOP Chairman Pearce and company, but Dimond is a woman and sees how women are lining up--if they are not Republican they are not toeing the GOP line. ABORTION TOURISM?
The Democrats have to add to their message that women coming here are not looking to go to a day spa or the Ojo Caliente hot springs. They are here for serious medical care--often potentially life saving. It's not only about "rights and access." On the other hand, if Mark Ronchetti tries to play that card and blame women, it could be an epic backfire. The New Yorker's Jia Tolentino comes with an angle rarely explored but addresses this point--one that women voters will fully grasp: Pregnancy is more than thirty times more dangerous than abortion. . .Some of the women who will die from abortion bans are pregnant right now. Their deaths will come not from back-alley procedures but from a silent denial of care: interventions delayed, desires disregarded. They will die of infections, of preëclampsia, of hemorrhage, as they are forced to submit their bodies to pregnancies that they never wanted to carry, and it will not be hard for the anti-abortion movement to accept these deaths as a tragic, even noble, consequence of womanhood itself.
In the meantime, abortion bans will hurt, disable, and endanger many people who want to carry their pregnancies to term but who encounter medical difficulties. Physicians in prohibition states have already begun declining to treat women who are in the midst of miscarriages, for fear that the treatment could be classified as abortion. One woman in Texas was told that she had to drive fifteen hours to New Mexico to have her ectopic pregnancy—which is nonviable, by definition, and always dangerous to the mother—removed. Not exactly an abortion vacation, is it? MLG did have an answer for Sen. Dimond on the flood of patients that could pressure healthcare providers, saying extra help for them will be on the plate for the next session of the state legislature in January. But the Governor did rule out a special session of the legislature to deal with possible holes in New Mexico's legal structure concerning abortion. And why wouldn't she? The Supreme Court ruling is breaking completely her way. If you are holding three aces, you rarely need a fourth. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2022 |
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