Supreme Court’s Abortion Ban Decision Rolls Back Clock on New Mexico Women’s Health

Justices’ Anti-Choice Ruling Strips Health Protections Established by Roe

NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico executive director Heather Brewer on Wednesday called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a federal abortion ban –- which strips away the crucial health protections established by the landmark Roe v. Wade decision -– a blow to women’s health and reproductive freedom in New Mexico (double click play button to listen to Heather Brewer in these clips).

Politics vs. the Health of Women

The abortion ban, upheld by a 5-4 Supreme Court vote, does not include an exception for the health of the mother – a fundamental tenet of the Roe decision.

Politicians Playing Doctor

Brewer cited Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who said in the dissent that the decision “tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”

Bush and His Anti-Choice Supreme Court

Wednesday’s decision was the first abortion-related ruling issued by the court since Bush appointed Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

Court Moving in Dangerous Direction

NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico is a New Mexico-based organization with a 34-year history of working through the political process to ensure that women in the state have access to a safe, legal abortion.

For more information:
Heather Brewer, Executive Director
NARAL Pro Choice New Mexico
505-243-4443 (office)
hbrewer@prochoicenm.org
https://www.prochoicenewmexico.org/

Editor's Note: Also read the Center for American Progress report on this Supreme Court decision. Excerpt:

In a 5-4 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court dealt a damaging blow to women's rights, upholding a 2003 law that banned all mid-term abortions as early as 12 to15 weeks, without providing an exception for the health of the pregnant mother. The Court's decision, which marked the "first time the justices agreed that a specific abortion procedure could be banned," blatantly defied its own recent ruling in 2000, which said a mid-term abortion ban without exceptions for the health of the woman was an unconstitutional restriction. The ruling "clears the way for states to pass new laws" designed to discourage women from having abortions. "For the first time in 30 years, the Supreme Court has sanctioned a law that does not protect women's health and prohibits doctors from exercising their best medical judgment," said Jessica Arons, the director of women's health and rights program at the Center for American Progress.

(Audio clips from .)