“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,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement Wednesday.
The executive order also orders the state’s health agency to develop a “detailed plan to leverage” state resources to expand access to abortion in underserved areas.
In the wake of the court’s decision this summer, Lujan Grisham and other Democratic governors have flexed their executive authority to protect and expand access to abortion, signaling to supporters that they’re taking action as legislatures were adjourned for the summer.
Lujan Grisham also signed an executive order earlier this year directing state agencies and department not to assist with other states’ investigations or prosecutions that would hold someone criminally or civilly liable for providing, seeking, obtaining or assisting with an abortion.
The orders also limit the governor offices’ authority to extradite people to or from New Mexico if they’re facing criminal charges in another state for obtaining, providing or assisting an abortion legal in their home state.
Abortion providers in recent months have closed up their clinics in other states and moved to New Mexico.
