Overview of the legality and prevalence of abortions in the U.S. state of New Mexico
Abortion in New Mexico is legal at all stages of pregnancy. The number of abortion clinics in New Mexico has declined over the years, with 26 in 1982, 20 in 1992 and 11 in 2014. There were 4,500 legal abortions in 2014. There were 7 facilities providing abortion in New Mexico in 2017, and 6 of those were clinics. In 2017, 91% of New Mexico counties had no clinics that provided abortions, and 48% of New Mexico women lived in those counties.[1]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oregon made reforms to their abortion laws, with most of these states providing more detailed medical guidance on when therapeutic abortions could be performed.[5] In 1969, the New Mexico legislature passed a law that made it a felony for anyone to provide a woman with an abortion unless it was needed to save her life, or because her pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.[6] The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in 1973's Roe v. Wade barred states from regulating abortion in the first trimester;[5] consequently, New Mexico's 1969 abortion law became unenforceable.[6] (However, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, No. 19-1392, 597U.S. ___ (2022) later in 2022.[7][8]) In March 2019, the legislature considered a bill that would have repealed the 1969 law. While the New Mexico House of Representatives passed the repeal bill, it was defeated in the State Senate by a vote of 24–18.[6] In February 2021, the repeal bill passed the Senate; it was signed into law in March 2021.[9] The bill faced opposition from state Republicans.[2]
In 2017, New Mexico, Washington, Illinois, Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey allowed qualified non-physicians to prescribe drugs for medical abortions only.[10] New Mexico had few abortion restrictions in comparison to other states as of May 1, 2018. There are no waiting periods, no required parental consent, and no inability to use state funding for an abortion.[11]
In the cities of Hobbs, Clovis and Eunice, local ordinances were passed in 2022 and 2023 to prevent abortion clinics from operating.[12] These ordinances were all overwritten by a 2023 state law prohibiting local abortion bans.[13]
Between 1982 and 1992, the number of abortion clinics in the state decreased by six, going from 26 in 1982 to twenty in 1992.[14] In 2014, there were eleven facilities which provided abortions of which nine were abortion clinics.[15][11] In 2014, 91% of the counties in the state did not have an abortion clinic. That year, 48% of women in the state aged 15–44 lived in a county without an abortion clinic.[16] In March 2016, there were six Planned Parenthood clinics in the state.[17] In 2017, Planned Parenthood closed three clinics in the state. This was done around their plans to try to consolidate reproductive services they offered in the New Mexico.[18] Later that year, there were three total Planned Parenthood clinics in the state. At the time, the population was 456,213 for women aged 15–49 of which two offered abortion services.[18]
Statistics
In the period between 1972 and 1974, there were zero recorded illegal abortion deaths in the state.[19] In 1990, 181,000 women in the state faced the risk of an unintended pregnancy.[14] Between 2011 and 2014, there was a 10% decline in the number of abortions performed in the state.[11] In 2013, there were 150 abortions among white women aged 15–19, 20 abortions for black women aged 15–19, 370 abortions for Hispanic women aged 15–19, and 70 abortions for women of all other races.[20] In 2014, 51% of adults said in a poll by the Pew Research Center that abortion should be legal in all or most cases.[21] In 2017, the state had an infant mortality rate of 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births.[22]
Number of reported abortions, abortion rate and percentage change in rate by geographic region and state in 1992, 1995 and 1996[23]
Census division and state
Number
Rate
% change 1992–1996
1992
1995
1996
1992
1995
1996
US Total
1,528,930
1,363,690
1,365,730
25.9
22.9
22.9
–12
Mountain
69,600
63,390
67,020
21
17.9
18.6
–12
Arizona
20,600
18,120
19,310
24.1
19.1
19.8
–18
Colorado
19,880
15,690
18,310
23.6
18
20.9
–12
Idaho
1,710
1,500
1,600
7.2
5.8
6.1
–15
Montana
3,300
3,010
2,900
18.2
16.2
15.6
–14
Nevada
13,300
15,600
15,450
44.2
46.7
44.6
1
New Mexico
6,410
5,450
5,470
17.7
14.4
14.4
–19
Utah
3,940
3,740
3,700
9.3
8.1
7.8
–16
Wyoming
460
280
280
4.3
2.7
2.7
–37
Number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions, by reporting area of residence and occurrence and by percentage of abortions obtained by out-of-state residents, US CDC estimates
^number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44; ^^number of abortions per 1,000 live births
Abortion financing
Seventeen states including New Mexico used their own funds to cover all or most "medically necessary" abortions sought by low-income women under Medicaid, thirteen of which are required by state court orders to do so.[26] In 2010, the state had 1,270 publicly funded abortions, of which were 0 federally funded and 1,270 were state funded.[27] Public funding was still available in May 2018.[11]
Abortion rights views and activities
Women from the state participated in marches supporting abortion rights as part of a #StoptheBans movement in May 2019.[28]
Anti-abortion views and activities
On December 6, 2007, Chad Altman and Sergio Baca were arrested for the arson of Dr. Curtis Boyd's clinic in Albuquerque. Baca's girlfriend had scheduled an appointment for an abortion at the clinic.[29][30]
^Cates, Willard; Rochat, Roger (March 1976). "Illegal Abortions in the United States: 1972–1974". Family Planning Perspectives. 8 (2): 86–92. doi:10.2307/2133995. JSTOR2133995. PMID1269687.
