Lujan Grisham pledges $10 million for reproductive health clinic in Doña Ana County

Sep. 1—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order Wednesday that designates $10 million of her capital outlay money in the upcoming legislative session to build a new clinic in Doña Ana County that would provide a "full spectrum" of reproductive health care, including abortion.

"The work that we are doing saves women's lives ... and the notion that women cannot have control over their bodies, dignity, respect and autonomy is outrageous," the governor said during a virtual briefing attended by female lawmakers and members of the New Mexico Commission on the Status of Women.

"This is a state that is not going to let that be the status quo in any context for anyone, anywhere in the country," she said.

The executive order also directs the Department of Health to develop a detailed plan to leverage state resources to expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion, in underserved areas of the state, and "assess the feasibility" of providing abortion medications in the state's public health clinics.

"I am proudly signing this executive order," said Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection in November and has made abortion access a key theme of her campaign.

Her Republican rival, former television meteorologist Mark Ronchetti, called the governor's action "extreme" in a statement Wednesday.

"New Mexico was already the abortion capital of the United States, and now taxpayers are having to foot the bill for a clinic which will perform abortions up to the moment of birth for non-residents who come from other states around the country," Ronchetti's statement said.

"Using taxpayer dollars to enable and fund abortion up until the point of birth is not only out of line with New Mexican values, it is extreme," he added.

Lujan Grisham supports no restrictions on abortion — a position Ronchetti also has called extreme.

Ronchetti has said he would seek a "middle ground" with the Legislature, now controlled by Democrats in both chambers, to end "the practice of late-term and partial-birth abortion." He also has said approving of the procedure for up to 15 weeks of pregnancy and in cases involving rape, incest and when a mother's life is at risk is more reasonable.

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Karen Bedonie describes herself as pro-life on her website.

The governor's executive order comes after she signed a separate order in June, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, to increase protections for abortion patients and providers in New Mexico.

That order shields health care providers from discipline and losing their licenses for providing abortion services to out-of-state residents. It also prohibits state agencies "from cooperating in another state's investigation into a person or other entity for receiving or delivering reproductive services," according to the Governor's Office.

"This is a state that will stand against any attempts to remove, diminish or completely eviscerate women's constitutional rights," Lujan Grisham said.

Senate Majority Whip Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said she's working with her colleagues on legislation to complement the governor's executive order, as well as a resolution adopted by the Commission on the Status of Women.

"The access that we need here in our communities for women is so important," she said during the briefing.

The commission, created by law more than four decades ago, passed a resolution outlining its priorities after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The priorities include "opposing all policies and programs that seek to restrict or penalize access to safe abortion," Chairwoman Lisa Curtis said.

"We hope that with the really powerful leadership of the people on this Zoom [meeting] that we will be able to, in fact, utilize this opportunity to increase and expand availability for women's health care in this state," she said.

State Rep. Joanne Ferrary, a Las Cruces Democrat who also attended the briefing, called efforts to ensure women across the state have access to reproductive health care, including abortion, "wonderful." But she said she was especially appreciative of the impact the proposed clinic would have on Southern New Mexico, which has "lacked access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care for years."

"Some people have been waiting for months to receive basic reproductive health care," Ferrary said. "Our governor is a public health champion who understands that abortion care is health care, and we want to thank her for allocating money to this much-needed area of the state so that we can make sure that we provide for rural areas and even our frontier areas of the state the full reproductive health care that is so greatly needed."

Lujan Grisham said the clinic would likely be built in Las Cruces.

"The goal here is build it and they will come, and as you know, some [out-of-state] folks are already coming," the governor said.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.