SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – One of the legislative session’s most controversial bills, repealing the state’s abortion ban, cleared the Senate floor. After hours of tense and emotional debate, the bill passed the Senate floor 25-17. Supports said it’s time to get rid of this archaic law.
“Every pregnancy is complex, every person’s circumstances are different,” said Sen. Linda Lopez (D- Albuquerque). “We can hold our own moral values about abortion and still trust a woman, a pregnant person and their family to make that decision for themselves.”
What Senate Bill 10 does is repeal the state’s 1969 abortion ban. Right now, the Supreme Court’s ruling of Roe v. Wade makes the state’s abortion ban unenforceable. Some lawmakers are worried the Supreme Court ruling could be overturned, so they’ve been pushing to repeal the law to keep abortions legal in New Mexico.
“I do think it’s sad, I do think it’s troubling on our hearts,” said Sen. William Sharer (R- Farmington). “Harden not your hearts; there really are two lives involved in here: a mother’s and the child’s.”
Senate Republicans pulled out all the stops to prevent this bill from passing. One freshman senator even used a small doll as a prop. Some also proposed alternative bills that would change the law to ban late-term abortions in the state, but their efforts fell short.
The passing of the bill is significant in the Senate because last time it was debated on the Senate floor, a handful of Democrats crossed party lines and voted the bill down. This time around, two Democrats did vote with the Republicans. The bill now heads to House committees for debate.
