Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
The New Mexico Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 13 on whether anti-abortion ordinances passed in Clovis, Roosevelt County and other New Mexico communities violate state law or the state constitution.
In its order issued Tuesday, the Court ordered advocates and opponents of local abortion clinic bans to address whether the local ordinances exceed local governments’ constitutional authority and whether state law preempts local ordinances.
The court stated in another order it will accept “friend of the court” briefs on the case from pro-choice intervenors that include Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eastern New Mexico Rising and Bold Futures, an Albuquerque-based advocacy group for “women and people of color.”
The court will also accept briefs from pro-life intervenors that include the New Mexico Family Action Movement, the Right To Life Committee of New Mexico and NM Alliance for Life.
Both orders were signed by state Supreme Court Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon.
The Clovis city commission on Jan. 3 and the Roosevelt County Commission on Jan. 10 approved ordinances that would ban abortion clinics in Clovis or unincorporated Roosevelt County, respectively.
The titles of both ordinances included the words, “to comply with federal law,” referring to the 150-year-old Comstock Act, which prohibits the use of the U.S. Postal Service or any common carrier to deliver medical supplies and equipment intended for use in performing abortions.
The Roosevelt County ordinance was approved immediately after more than two hours of hearings in which pro-choice and pro-life advocates were allowed equal time to voice opinions.
For enforcement, the Roosevelt County ordinance relies on private citizens to bring civil action against those who might send or receive abortion supplies or equipment. It specifically denies enforcement rights to “Roosevelt County or any of its employees or agents against any person or entity, by any means whatsoever.”
The Clovis and Roosevelt County ordinances followed similar actions taken by the Hobbs city commission and the Lea County Commission. Both commissions are also defendants in the state attorney general’s lawsuit.
