New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) expressed her gratitude and concern following the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily continuing to allow nationwide access to an abortion pill according to a KOAT article published on Friday.
“I’m relieved by the Supreme Court’s stay, but I remain seriously concerned about the potentially devastating impacts the final ruling could have on reproductive health access for women around the country," Grisham said in a statement. "Make no mistake: the legal battle around reproductive health access in this country is far from over, and New Mexico is a state that will continue to fight for the bodily autonomy of women no matter what comes next.”
On Friday the Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone, a drug commonly used for abortion, rejecting lower-court restrictions amidst a continuing lawsuit. The justices granted emergency requests from the Biden administration and Danco Laboratories, the New York-based company which makes mifepristone. Both parties were appealing a lower court ruling that would rescind the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the drug.
New Mexico House Bill 7, sponsored by state Democrats and signed into law by Governor Grisham in March, prohibits public entities such as cities from interfering, indirectly or otherwise, with a citizen's access to reproductive healthcare. The City of Eunice has sued both the Governor and the New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, asking the Lovington District Court to declare that federal law, which the City calls the "supreme law of the land", should overrule the state law. In response, Torrez said that he plans on asking the State Supreme Court to take the case instead, adding that they are best suited to handle the issue.
"If the Supreme Court allows that and Eunice goes forward with their lawsuit and gets favorable at the Supreme Court level, then the local communities have the authority to dictate what industries, not just abortion, but what industries are allowed to work in their location," said State Senator David Gallegos (R).