Alamogordo Commissioners approve abortion opposition, now a 'sanctuary for the unborn'

The Alamogordo City Commission approved two abortion opposition resolutions during a special meeting held Aug. 3, declaring the city a 'sanctuary for the unborn' and supporting a similar resolution passed by the Otero County Commission in July.

Alamogordo Mayor Susan Payne and District 5 Alamogordo City Commissioner Sharon McDonald voted against the measure to declare the city a sanctuary, in the 5 to 2 vote on the resolution introduced by District 3 Alamogordo City Commissioner Karl Melton.

Payne said her personal faith wared with her duty as mayor, but ultimately opposed the passage because she felt the issue was outside the scope of the local government's authority.

"This is a very controversial subject and one I've said all along I don't believe was a function of city government," Payne said at the meeting.

More:Alamogordo to consider 'sanctuary for life' resolution

"I understand that I was elected to represent everybody and that's what my struggle was. I do not think this is a function of city government and that's why it is so hard for me because every part of me wants to say 'yes, we need to do this.'"

Melton celebrate the passage of both resolutions Wednesday.

"Last night, most of my fellow commissioners joined me in supporting Resolution 2022-38," Melton said. "The five of us affirmed life from conception to natural death and made Alamogordo a sanctuary city for the unborn. Alamogordo now stands in unity with Otero County, which passed a similar resolution of its own.

"While there is more work to be done, I am proud of our efforts that made it clear Alamogordo does not want or need any abortion facilities here."

The second resolution declaring support of the Otero County sanctuary for life declaration passed on a 6 to 1 margin, with McDonald being the sole nay vote.

The passage of both resolutions followed four hours of public comment submitted via email and presented in-person at the meeting held in the Willie Estrada Center. The Commission hear 187 New Mexicans' comment on the issue. Of comments submitted, 82 were in favor of passage of the resolution while 105 opposed the measures.

Payne said she was disappointment that only 187 comments were submitted when the city's population of 31,000 would all be impacted by the Commissions choice.

Abortion is legal in New Mexico, a fact that the ACLU of New Mexico reminded the Commission in a letter sent ahead of the public meeting Tuesday.

"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico today sent letters to the Alamogordo City Commission and the Otero County Commission reiterating that resolutions opposing the provision of abortion care have no force of law in our state," said Davida Gallegos, spokesperson for ACLU of New Mexico, in an emailed statement.

"Despite the harmful U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs decision stripping away the nearly 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion care at the federal level, abortion remains safe and legal in New Mexico."

ACLU of New Mexico Reproductive Rights attorney Ellie Rushforth said that should Otero County or the City of Alamogordo attempt to enforce either resolution - neither of which hold the weight of law, and are simply statements of opinion or position - the ACLU would "defend New Mexicans' right to abortion and all reproductive health care in every corner of our state."

"The out-of-touch and dangerous anti-abortion resolution passed in Otero County and the pending resolutions in Alamogordo are a shameful attempt to stigmatize essential health care that their constituents access every year. These resolutions are unenforceable and spread confusion about access to abortion for those seeking quality reproductive health care in our state," Rushforth said in a statement Tuesday.

Access to abortion services are already limited in Otero County and the City of Alamogordo. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights advocacy organization, 91 percent of New Mexico counties had "no clinics that provided abortions" in 2017, and 48 percent of New Mexico women lived in counties without clinics, both percentages higher than the national numbers.

Just three of New Mexico's 33 counties statewide have clinics that provide abortion services: Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Doña Ana counties.

In New Mexico, there is no specific number-of-weeks threshold imposed by the state at which point someone becomes ineligible to receive an abortion. New Mexico only bans so-called "partial birth" abortion, in which an independently viable fetus is extracted from the uterus, unless the person is at risk of death or "great bodily harm."

In the wake of the Roe vs. Wade reversal, at least two out-of-state abortion providers declared their intent to relocate their clinics to southern New Mexico to provide abortion and women's health services.

Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.

The Las Cruces Sun-News contributed to this reporting.

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