New Mexico sets aside $10 million for abortion clinic on Texas border in anticipation of post-Roe influx

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) signed an executive order this week setting aside $10 million to put an abortion clinic near the border with Texas to serve those coming from nearby red states to seek abortion services in a post-Roe USA.

New Mexico is expecting an influx of pregnant women seeking abortions and other OBGYN care to come from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and other nearby conservative-led states that have enacted restrictive abortion bans since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June. 

The executive order signed by Lujan Grisham on Friday requires the state Department of Finance Administration to earmark $10 million for the next legislative session to construct a clinic in Dona Ana County, which borders Texas and Mexico not far from Fort Bliss, Texas. The clinic will offer a “full spectrum” of “patient-centered, community-informed” reproductive care for residents of New Mexico and neighboring states.

This is not Lujan Grisham’s first action aimed at protecting reproductive rights in the state. In June she signed another executive order that offered state protection to medical providers who refused to comply with the extradition of any out-of-state abortion recipients whose home states may seek to punish them.

“Today we have once again declared that we will take every available action to protect the rights and access to health care of anyone in New Mexico,” said the governor at the time of the June executive action. “As long as I am governor, abortion will continue to be legal, safe, and accessible in New Mexico.”

When she signed this week’s order, the governor repeated her resolve to maintain abortion access to women in the US.

“As more states move to restrict and prohibit access to reproductive care, New Mexico will continue to not only protect access to abortion, but to expand and strengthen reproductive health care throughout the state,” she said. “Today, I reaffirm my resolve to make sure that women and families in New Mexico – and beyond – are supported at every step of the way.”