Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Eastern New Mexico Rising is trying to bring anti-abortion ordinances passed in Clovis and Roosevelt County to a vote of the people. The group is circulating petitions in both communities calling for elections to decide the issue.
If the voters say they want to make the decision on these ordinances instead of their elected officials, there would be a stay of the ordinances blocking them from taking effect until the vote is taken, said Laura Wight, co-founder of Eastern New Mexico Rising.
Both ordinances are currently in effect.
“Eastern New Mexico Rising is a non-partisan, progressive movement that empowers individuals and connects communities by promoting bodily autonomy, equality, diversity, human rights and civil liberties through dialogue, education and advocacy,” as stated on enmrising.org .
“Right now our focus (Eastern New Mexico Rising) has been on the anti-abortion ordinances that have been passed in Eastern New Mexico,” said Krista Pietsch, a member of the group’s steering committee in Roosevelt County.
Pietsch said they are in the process of getting the Roosevelt County petition approved for circulation.
The Clovis petition has been circulating, said Laura Wight, co-founder of Eastern New Mexico Rising.
“We need about 300 signatures –20 percent of the people who voted in the last municipal election,” Wight said on Monday. “We now have about one-half of the signatures we need.”
If the petitions are successful, the number of voters needed to call for an election is a simple majority of the number who vote, Wight said.
The so-called anti-abortion ordinances passed in Roosevelt County and the city of Clovis basically prohibit the mailing of any medication or supplies used for abortions, she said.
The federal law referenced in the anti-abortion ordinances involves an 1873 Comstock law that prohibits publicizing, distributing or possessing information about or medication or other tools for “unlawful” contraception or abortions.
“New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has vowed to push for abortion protections to be codified in state law when legislators meet over the next 60 days. While New Mexico already allows abortion with few restrictions, Lujan Grisham said enshrining those protections in law would ensure women in the state would never have “anything less than full bodily autonomy and freedom of choice,” the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Pietsch said legislation proposed would prohibit local governments from stopping or putting limits on a woman’s access to abortion.
She said she thinks this state legislation will pass. “We have a Democratic majority so I think it’s likely it will pass.”
Wight said she thinks the proposed state legislation will pass and that it is one of the governor’s priorities.
Pietsch said she thinks the petition in Roosevelt County will get enough voters to bring it to a vote. “About 30 percent of voters in Roosevelt County are registered Democrats.”
Angie Smith, chair of Right to Life of Roosevelt and Curry Counties, said about the ordinances in an email on Monday:
“Roosevelt County has long been a supporter of not only children but their mamas as well. We have two children’s homes, an adoption agency, a Pregnancy Resource Center and soon we will have our own Safe Haven Baby Box in Portales. All of those endeavors are meant to help and love women with unexpected pregnancies as much as their unborn children, so this ordinance was just the next step in that progression. I want Roosevelt to become a destination for women seeking help, and joy, and life. I don’t want us to become a place of darkness and despair like Albuquerque.”
Smith said about the ballot initiative: “You know, our governor likes to proclaim that New Mexico is an abortion-loving state. That’s a bald-faced lie. The only reason people believe that about New Mexico is because she’s the only one ever given a microphone. It’s just not true. If a ballot initiative materializes, I will continue to have faith in my neighbors. I believe Roosevelt will speak out in one heart and one accord for women and their unborn children.”
Wight said the petition calls for a special vote that would be a mail-in ballot so all registered voters in Clovis could vote.
A press release issued by the Democratic Party of Roosevelt County states that these anti-abortion ordinances are in “direct conflict” with an executive order signed by Gov. Lujan Grisham in June of 2022 that ensures all women in New Mexico are protected when pursuing abortion services.
