HB 7 Passes House Health Committee 8-3
Forward Together Action community leaders from around the state on Wednesday testified before the House Health and Human Services Committee in support of HB 7, a bill, which passed the committee 8-3, to repeal an outdated abortion ban still on the books in New Mexico.
“In my culture we believe that our women are capable of making decisions for themselves, their family and their community,” Krystal Curley, a Navajo leader from Chichiltah in McKinley County, said. “Since colonization, our indigenous women have been targeted by patriarchal policies that have taken away our autonomy. To this day, my community experiences many barriers accessing abortion and reproductive healthcare. Families across New Mexico stand together to repeal this outdated abortion ban. We respect our women and families. We must pass HB7 because this bill reflects the values of our communities.”
Respect for families’ ability to make the decisions that are best for them was also a key point from Socorro Linden from Doña Ana County.
“All people deserve access to safe and legal abortion care if they need it,” Linden said. “In the ‘70s my mother had an abortion without any healthcare or assistance. She had just had a baby and did not have the means to get birth control. She was forced behind closed doors and [to] put her health and life at risk. She had complications after the abortion and could not seek out healthcare because it was illegal.
“I speak in support of this bill for my mother and for all future generations,” Linden concluded.
HB 7 is a straightforward bill that simply repeals an outdated law that makes it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion in New Mexico.
“Abortion is health care,” Forward Together Action New Mexico Policy Director Adriann Barboa said. “Putting a doctor in jail for providing needed health care goes against our New Mexico values. We trust women and families to make the decisions that are best for them.”
“We applaud the House Health & Human Services Committee for passing this important legislation today [Jan. 27].”
Barboa further said that medical experts and providers agree that laws restricting abortion access harm patients. Respected medical organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have made public statements supporting safe abortion access, Barboa said.
She also cited recent surveys that show that 77 percent of rural New Mexicans believe that women should be able to make their own decisions about abortion care. Similar surveys show that 89 percent of Indigenous New Mexicans believe that Indigenous women and families deserve to make their own healthcare decisions without government interference.
“The 1969 Abortion Ban is an old, outdated law that is out of step with our values today, and it must be repealed,” Barboa said.
HB 7 now goes to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
An identical bill in the Senate, SB 10, passed its first committee earlier this week and will next be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
