Roe v. Wade overturned and New Mexicans react, subpoena fight spurs confusion, Spaceport Cup

Roe v. Wade overturned, New Mexico reacts

On Friday, the precedent set by Roe v. Wade — which has enshrined abortion access as a constitutional right for nearly 50 years — was overturned by the Supreme Court's present conservative majority. Ruling in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a 6-3 majority of Justices upheld a Mississippi law banning most abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. Associate Justice Samuel Alito, author of the majority's opinion, specifically wrote that the Roe decision "was egregiously wrong from the start."

"The moment we have long dreaded has arrived, and our nation will be the worse for it," New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in responding to news of the Supreme Court's decision negating a constitutional right to abortion.

For opponents of abortion, on the other hand, it was a day to celebrate and look ahead to state-level debates about termination of pregnancies including further restrictions.

"Here in New Mexico, unfortunately, we have our work cut out for us," New Mexico Alliance for Life director Elisa Martinez said Friday morning.

Last year, the New Mexico Legislature, where Democrats hold majorities in both chambers, repealed a 1969 statutory ban on abortion under most circumstances. It had been unenforceable since the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which established a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy without excessive restrictions by government.

Following Friday's announcement, crowds gathered to protest the decision in Las Cruces' Pioneer Women's Park.

This decision, of course, caused the Las Cruces Sun-News newsroom to spring into action.

Reporter Algernon D'Ammassa spoke to a number of New Mexico politicians and activists for initial reactions to the ruling. Reporter Michael McDevitt took a look at the landscape across the state with regard to abortion providers. Reporter Annya Loya covered the event at Pioneer Women's Park.

Algernon said:

On Friday morning, New Mexicans learned that the Supreme Court had done just what the draft opinion that was leaked in May said it would do: Overturn the precedent established in 1973 with Roe v. Wade that protected the decision to terminate a pregnancy as a constitutional right. It is a landmark reversal of a landmark ruling less than 50 years old.

Reporting on the initial reaction consumed our day Friday, along with preparing for a series of follow-up stories about what this means for New Mexico as a matter of law, moral agency, public health and justice for all our people. Look for more from our whole team.

With regard to his reporting Friday, Michael said:

I sat in on a press conference as advocates and Democratic state lawmakers weighed how to respond to the historic reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision. While activists discussed increasing clinic infrastructure to cater to an anticipated demand increase, Democrats called this fall’s elections more important than before — though they stopped short of calling for the codification of Roe at the state level.

I’m still working on figuring out what material difference exists between the absence of codification in New Mexico and if the state were to codify Roe. I’ve heard some arguments and justifications for not codifying, but I think it’s a topic to explore further. And readers should be asking the same of their leaders — that is, to justify whatever action they take, one way or the other.

Fight over subpoena delivery raises questions

The 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s office requested a judge force the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office to deliver 17 subpoenas they say were rejected by the sheriff.

In response, DASO said that deputies would no longer deliver subpoenas for the DA’s office.

According to a petition filed in the 3rd Judicial District Court District Attorney Gerald Byers said that Stewart and DASO Major Jon Day used an employee-only elevator to enter the DA’s office without an appointment on June 9. The petition said that Stewart and Day told Byers that DASO would not be serving 17 subpoenas.

“The results of her (Stewart’s) actions could result in many criminal cases being dismissed,” the petition stated.

How this will play out remains unwritten, but it's certainly something the Sun-News will be following closely. Reporter Justin Garcia, who covers public safety, crime and courts, has been working to wade through the ramifications that may follow.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the subpoena situation. It was one of those stories that snuck up on me, but is one of the most important things to happen this year. So far, sources familiar with the matter suggest that the DA is able to deliver the subpoenas without DASO. But there remains a question of whether DASO has a legal obligation to deliver them. 

On the other hand, I found some defense attorneys talking on Twitter about why they believed the sheriff was doing the right thing. Lots of questions here.

Spaceport America Cup returns to southern New Mexico

Last week marked the Spaceport America Cup's return to in-person competition after the 2020 event was canceled and the 2021 Cup was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event has been organized yearly since 2006 by the nonprofit Experimental Sounding Rocket Association. It was held in Green River, Utah until it moved to the spaceport in 2017, which is when the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition was rebranded as the Spaceport America Cup.

At the launch area Thursday, ESRA and spaceport staff permitted teams to arrive as early as 4 a.m. for preliminary work integrating their rocket systems and did what they could to move the process of final safety checks, preparation and launches as efficiently as possible.

Due to inclement weather on Wednesday, well, the dirt roads leading to the Spaceport were VERY muddy. Some participants got stuck, as reporter Algernon D'Ammassa learned. But that didn't stop more than 1,000 participants from showing up.

About the experience, Algernon said:

We've been covering the Spaceport America Cup since the competition moved to the spaceport in 2017. (Before that, it had been held annually in Utah.) I've been writing stories about it since 2018 from different angles: A little about the engineering, the structure of the competition, the research that flies on some of the rockets and the professional networking and recruiting that goes on.

This was the first in-person competition since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, and so this year's story is mainly about the teams and how people help one another out. It begins with the story of one rocketry student who took an unpaved county road to beat it back to the Spaceport after running an errand in Truth or Consequences, only to find himself stuck in the mud trying to figure out how to get back to the launching area several miles away before time ran out.

The Spaceport America Cup is also the subject of this week's The Reporter's Notebook podcast. We talk to Algernon and photojournalist Meg Potter about their experience covering the event.

Local boy finds bone marrow match

Moustapha Idrissa and Balkissa Boubacar’s first child was born eight years ago. Muhammad was perfect and the young family was happy. However, standard tests on the newborn revealed he had sickle cell anemia.

Sickle cell diseases are inherited blood disorders that affect millions of people each year — particularly those with ancestors from sub-Saharan Africa, Spanish-speaking areas of the Western Hemisphere, Saudi Arabia, India and several Mediterranean countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Normal red blood cells are circular and contain the protein hemoglobin which carries oxygen. But in patients who have SCD, their hemoglobin is abnormal, causing red blood cells to become sickle- or banana-shaped. The odd shape can lead to blockages, strokes and other complications.

Many people diagnosed with the disorders experience excruciating pain. Muhammad has not.

However, Muhammad needs a bone marrow transplant. He's now found a match — in his little sister, Jennah.

Sun-News reporter Leah Romero told the story for our readers:

Recently, someone reached out to our newsroom asking if we would be interested in hearing about a Las Cruces boy who needed to have a bone marrow transplant soon. I sat down with Moustapha Idrissa to hear about what was going on with his son and family.

Moustapha talked about his 8-year-old son, Muhammad, the eldest of four children. He was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia at birth, but started suffering from symptoms of the blood disorder in recent years. The boy suffered a silent stroke, a precursor to a more major, damaging stroke and the family started getting tested to see if they might be a donor match for him.

Muhammad’s sister, 3-year-old Jennah, was a perfect match. The family is now preparing to move to Washington where the procedure and recovery will take place. They’re asking for help with living and medical expenses as their stay will likely be close to a year.

On behalf of all of us at the Las Cruces Sun-News, thank you for taking the time to read this week's newsletter.

Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Roe v. Wade overturned and New Mexicans react, subpoena fight spurs confusion