The Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Post file photo

By ROBERT NOTT
and DANIEL J CHACÓN
The Santa Fe New Mexican

A bill to stop local governments from restricting abortion or gender-affirming health care is headed to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.

The House of Representatives voted 39-29 Friday night, with the Republicans and a few Democrats opposed, to concur with some minor Senate changes to House Bill 7. Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who made protecting abortion rights a major theme of her reelection campaign last year, is expected to sign the measure.

Meanwhile, an emotional and highly charged debate over abortion enveloped the Senate earlier Friday. There, a bill that seeks to protect both patients and providers from out-of-state investigations from places where abortion and gender-affirming care is outlawed ignited a heated debate that included charges New Mexico allows infanticide and is opening itself up to litigation.

The sponsors of Senate Bill 13, which passed 26-16, said the measure is necessary as surrounding states interfere with abortion and transgender rights.

“If you seek or provide reproductive or gender-affirming care here in New Mexico, regardless of where you come from, New Mexico will do everything in its power to protect you and your information from the reach of other states,” said Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque.

Though House Republicans fought for hours against HB 7 when it was first brought to the floor in late February, they asked only a few clarifying questions about the amendments during Friday night’s debate. 

The debate, which lasted about 20 minutes, was civil and measured, without a hint of the passion that drove the discussion on SB 13 in the Senate. 

Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, one of HB 7’s sponsors, noted one of the amendments makes it clear only governmental agencies, and not employees or individuals, can be held liable for prohibiting access to abortion or reproductive health care.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, one of the sponsors of SB 13, said other states should not be able to dictate what kind of health care New Mexico provides.

“We need to protect our health care providers from being criminalized and to support them and to protect them here in this state,” she said.

After the bill was presented on the floor, Sen. Bill Sharer, a Farmington Republican who vehemently opposes abortion, introduced an amendment to remove the word “perinatal” from the legislation, triggering a long and, at times, gruesome discussion on the floor.

“I cannot see any other reason to use that word except to have an abortion after birth,” he said. “I believe that’s in there for a purpose, and I just don’t believe that the people of New Mexico know that that’s what we’re about to do. We’re about to leave a child alone, crying and hungry and cold until she dies.”

Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, disputed Sharer, saying “abortion after birth” does not exist.

“I want to make sure to clarify for any members of the public who are listening, we are not about to leave a child to die, and abortion after birth is not a thing,” she said. “Perinatal care is an essential part of the full spectrum of reproductive care.”

Sen. David Gallegos, R-Eunice, challenged Duhigg, saying a woman who worked at an abortion clinic in Albuquerque told lawmakers some years ago that babies are being left to die after birth.

“Her job was to take these children that after the abortion process that had not died and put them on cookie sheets in a rack and continue to put them up there after they’d fallen in order to give them time to die,” he said. “That young lady was given dismissal because she was caught holding a couple of the children trying to give them comfort and support in their last minutes of life.”

Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, said perinatal care involves the “common practice” of providing care to mothers before, during and after birth.

“I just cannot abide the attempt to make it sound like we are trying to kill babies,” he said. “This is nuts.”

Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, said she found the discussion “deeply insulting” and dangerous to women.

“Insinuating that women just sit around and at the last minute decide to not have the baby or have the baby killed is deeply misogynist,” she said.

Sharer didn’t relent.

“We’re already the late-term abortion capital of America,” he said in his closing remarks. “We don’t need to become the after-birth abortion [capital] of America, too.”

The Senate rejected Sharer’s amendment 13-26.

As senators continued to discuss the bill, Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, expressed outrage over a tweet accusing Republicans of hating “women and people who identify as women.”

“The only thing that this going to top off the misogyny right now is for #senatebarbie @CrystalRDiamond to make some stupid comment that only applies to wealthy white conservative women,” the tweet stated.

“I hope this body steps up and defends this senator, who is a hell of a senator,” Moores said. “You guys want to talk about misogyny. Let’s see if people in this chamber call out that kind of talk on Twitter. It’s inappropriate. I’m going to defend her. That was crap, Mr. President.”

The Twitter user quickly deleted the tweet and then apparently disabled their account.

Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, R-Belen, expressed concerns the state would subject itself to lawsuits and said the bill was only a “messaging point.”

“It turns it into a message of, ‘Hey, we’re New Mexico, and we are the most radical state in the nation,’ so if you’re thinking of doing this or that with regards to some of these radical surgeries that this protects, it’s saying, ‘We have an open door,’“ Baca said.

In a statement issued after the vote, Lopez said New Mexico takes care of its own people serves “as a beacon of dignity and liberty” throughout the nation.

“While some remain hell-bent on turning back the clock on reproductive rights and gender-affirming care, New Mexico is stepping up to lead with compassion. Regardless of whether you are a patient, provider, or professional, you and your medical privacy deserve to be respected and protected,” she said.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.