Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham holds a news conference to announce a 50 year plan for water use in New Mexico. The news conference was held in the Governor’s office, Tuesday, January 30, 2024. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)
In a last minute addition to capital outlay projects, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham added a $10 million request for the construction of a reproductive health clinic in Northern New Mexico.
Representatives on Wednesday afternoon debated House Bill 450, which outlines $1.2 billion in capital outlay projects across the state. According to the bill, the clinic funds would be allocated to the University of New Mexico as the fiscal agent.
Republican lawmakers quickly jumped on the additional line item, questioning whether the project is “shovel-ready” with a location chosen and construction ready to begin. Bill sponsor Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) said as far as he knows, a location has yet to be chosen.
“How do we know the money is actually going to get spent?” Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) asked on the House floor. “We always talk about fiscal responsibility, we always talk about wanting to spend money that we’ve appropriated, so how can we ensure that this money will indeed be given out for [this] purpose.”
Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences) told the floor she has heard that Raton is a possible location, situated to serve Northern New Mexicans as well as people coming across the border from Colorado.
However, Jodi McGinnis Porter, deputy director of communications for the governor’s office, told Source NM that a location has not been identified and a project timeline is not available.
“Gov. Lujan Grisham believes access to reproductive healthcare is a fundamental human right. Ensuring access to safe reproductive healthcare prevents life-threatening risks such as untreated ectopic pregnancies,” McGinnis Porter told Source in an emailed statement. “The $10 million investment in the Center for Reproductive Health in Northern New Mexico will help meet the need following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which has sharply increased demand for reproductive services. The clinic will provide comprehensive care including medication and procedural abortion, contraception options, miscarriage management, and preventative care services.”
The Northern New Mexico project is similar to one currently underway in Las Cruces’ East mesa, which also received $10 million in state funds for construction in 2023. Details of this project were limited more than a year following the appropriation, before organizers announced the location in Las Cruces in late summer.
State and local officials broke ground in September 2024 and, at the time, Michael Richards, interim executive vice president of UNM Health Sciences and CEO of the UNM Health System, said organizers would finalize building plans in the weeks following the groundbreaking and choose a contractor. He said construction would take about 18 months once started.
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The Las Cruces project is a collaboration between UNM’s Health Sciences Center and advocacy organizations Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Bold Futures and Strong Families New Mexico. McGinnis Porter told Source NM that she could not confirm that the same group was involved in the Northern New Mexico health center.
Christopher Ramirez, spokesperson for UNM Health Sciences Center, told Source in an emailed statement that the university does not generally comment on “funding matters” until they are signed by the governor.
“UNM is appreciative of the thoughtful work done by both the Executive and Legislature to ensure that we are able to fulfill our mission to provide exceptional health care and health outcomes for all New Mexicans,” Ramirez told Source in an email. “As with all items relating to UNM, this capital outlay funding will be thoroughly analyzed, and our teams will continue working with the Legislature and the Executive to understand UNM’s role.”
McGinnis Porter also told Source that Gina DeBlassie, secretary of the Department of Health, noted that the proposed Northern New Mexico center will also provide pregnancy loss support and management, lactation support, women’s preventative care, sexually transmitted infection screenings, cancer screenings, adoption education and resources, doula support and limited primary care, including pap smears and checkups for sexual health care.
Rep. Rod Montoya (R-Farmington) introduced a floor amendment to HB450, eliminating the $10 million request, calling it a “pill too hard to swallow.” Members of the House eventually voted to table the amendment.
Lente told Montoya that the amendment was unfriendly because it set a bad precedent to veto one specific item.
“We were able to identify projects that were important…in our respective districts. The governor had that same capability,” he said. “And if this is important to her administration, I have no place to say that I want to strike it, the same way that I expect that when this bill hopefully passes and we can get these projects funded, she would not touch any one of our projects…with her veto power.”
Speaker of the House Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) had to frequently ask House Republicans to keep their questions and comments on the bill, rather than the topic of abortion. The bill itself does not mention abortion.
House Republicans said their biggest objection to the clinic was for the potential for its doctors to provide abortion services, and they did not want “their state funds” going toward an abortion clinic.
“It’s not as if abortion is not available in New Mexico. It’s not as if abortion, completely unrestricted, hasn’t been available in New Mexico since the early 2000s,” Montoya said.
Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) called Montoya’s reading of the original bill “narrow” because reproductive health also includes pap screening, screening for sexually transmitted infections and more.
Rep. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo) added that the debate over abortion is something that comes up every session and people continue to disagree.
“I’ve told families in my district: It’s not about my decision, it’s not about my beliefs. It’s about really families being able to make their own healthcare decisions, and I think that’s the most important thing,” she said.
At about 5:30 p.m., Rep. Randall Pettigrew (R-Lovington) introduced another amendment to HB450 to remove the appropriation for the reproductive health center. Lente said the amendment was trying to accomplish the same thing, and was therefore unfriendly. As of press time, lawmakers were still debating the amendment.
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