ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico responded to the New Mexico Court of Appeals decision overturning the District Court ruling in Morris v. New Mexico, the case seeking the right for mentally competent, terminally ill patients to seek physician aid in dying. In 2014, the New Mexico 2^nd District Court ruled that aid in dying is a fundamental right protected by the New Mexico State Constitution.

The following quote can be attributed to Laura Schauer Ives, the ACLU-NM cooperating attorney who argued the case in court:

“We are disappointed that the Court of Appeals did not uphold the district court’s ruling that physician aid in dying is a fundamental right. However, we are encouraged that one member of the court agrees that aid in dying is a fundamental right and another believes that it could be protected by the New Mexico Constitution on other grounds. We believe we have a strong case moving forward, and will be applying for cert in the New Mexico Supreme court where they will hopefully agree that mentally competent, terminally ill patients have the right to seek physician aid in dying if their suffering becomes unbearable.”

A copy of the court’s ruling can be obtained online here: https://coa.nmcourts.gov/documents/opinions/Morris%20FO.pdf

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ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Today, pending appeal, the Supreme Court of the United States blocked the implementation of portions of the omnibus anti-abortion bill, HB 2, a Texas law that would force all but 9 clinics in Texas to close. Representatives for clinics in Texas sought the emergency stay from the Supreme Court to prevent the law from going into effect on July 1, and are now preparing to appeal the constitutionality of the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court decision upholding HB 2.

“As neighbors to Texas, we are happy that this harmful law will not be able to go into effect immediately,” said ACLU of New Mexico Legal Director Alexandra Freedman Smith. “These politically-motivated laws are designed to drive abortion providers out of the communities they serve and take away a woman’s access to healthcare. Laws that callously put the health and safety of women at risk have no place anywhere in our country.”

If implemented, HB 2 would place strict regulations on clinics, requiring that all abortion clinics in the state to qualify as “ambulatory surgical centers” and all doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. These types of laws are onerous and medically unnecessary regulations designed to restrict access to safe and legal abortion are known as TRAP laws—Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. Major medical associations, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, oppose these types of restrictions.

Had the law gone into effect, there would be no abortion clinic in the State of Texas west of San Antonio, forcing many women to drive hundreds of miles to New Mexico to access a safe and legal abortion.

“A woman shouldn’t have to drive hundreds of miles and cross state lines to access a safe and legal abortion,” said Smith. “A woman in Texas should be able to receive care in her own community, and her doctors should be able to provide health care without fear that targeted, malicious regulations will shutter their medical practice.”

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