New Mexico governor says national abortion ban ‘and more’ coming if courts uphold mifepristone restriction

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) urged states to push back against efforts by federal courts to restrict abortion access, arguing the U.S. was moving toward “a national abortion ban and more.”

“If we’re gonna use the federal courts as a way to bar and ban access, we are looking at a national abortion ban and more,” Grisham said on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday. “I think states have to band together to do as much as they can in opposition to that.”

Grisham blasted the decision by a federal judge in Texas to hand down a ban on the use of mifepristone, a widely-used abortion pill that has been approved to be safe and effective for over 20 years. The drug was allowed to be used with restrictions, including not being sent through the mail, after an appeal court ruling. The Biden administration has appealed to the Supreme Court in the case.

It is just another move that has restricted abortion access since the fall of Roe v. Wade last year. A string of Republican-led states have passed laws that restrict access to abortions, and now federal courts are further threatening even more stringent national protocols.

Grisham argues Democratic states need to band together to push back against the anti-abortion tide. New Mexico joined 20 other states, including California, New York and Wisconsin, to form the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, working together to strengthen access to reproductive care in the states.

While some Democratic-led states have worked to stockpile abortion drugs like mifepristone, Grisham said that is the wrong focus, instead saying states should hone in on trying to protect broad access to abortion care.

“If the response is we’ll stockpile instead of protecting all access, then we’re minimizing the work that we have to do to make sure that women and families are fully protected,” Grisham said.

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Originally published April 16, 2023, 11:48 AM