New Mexico Supreme Court strikes down local abortion restrictions

SANTA FE, N.M. — The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday struck down abortion restrictions by conservative cities and counties at the request of the state attorney general.

The unanimous opinion reinforces the state’s position as having some of the most liberal abortion laws in the country. The ruling preserves access to abortion procedures across a state that has become a major destination for people from other states with bans.

Attorneys representing New Mexico’s Lea and Roosevelt counties and the cities of Hobbs and Clovis had argued in court that local abortion ordinances can’t be struck down under provisions within the “anti-vice” law known as the Comstock Act.

Writing for the majority opinion, Justice C. Shannon Bacon said that state law precludes cities and counties from restricting abortion or regulating abortion clinics.

“The ordinances violate this core precept and invade the Legislature’s authority to regulate access to and provision of reproductive healthcare,” she wrote. “We hold the Ordinances are preempted in their entirety.”

Opposition to abortion runs deep in New Mexico communities along the border with Texas, which has one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S.