Abortion

Albuquerque 20-Week Abortion Ban Voted Down

Turning out in droves, voters in Albuquerque voted down a proposed ordinance Tuesday that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks' gestation in the city and would have had a significant impact on later abortion access in the region.

Turning out in droves, voters in Albuquerque voted down a proposed ordinance Tuesday that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks' gestation in the city and would have had a significant impact on later abortion access in the region. Ballot via Shutterstock

Turning out in droves, voters in Albuquerque voted down a proposed ordinance Tuesday that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation in the city and would have had a significant impact on later abortion access in the region.

Reproductive rights advocates successfully pushed back against the measure that would have left women throughout New Mexico and the Southwest without access to reproductive health care. “Albuquerque came out and showed these outsiders that we know what’s best for our city and families,” said Rachael Maestas, a member of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at the University of New Mexico.

With a little over 55 percent voting against the measure and nearly 45 percent voting in favor, the anti-choice ordinance was defeated resoundingly. The vote was called early by local media outlets, with early voting totals released just after the polls closed at 7:00 p.m. MST. Throughout the night, proponents of the ordinance never gained ground in the polls.

As the results became clear, supporters of the ordinance released statements and took to social media to claim that the vote was highly influenced by outside money, as Planned Parenthood and other reproductive rights organizations donated several hundred thousand dollars to the effort to defeat the measure. However, organizers on the ground in Albuquerque gave credit to their grassroots efforts and claimed that they ran a successful campaign to get out the vote against the measure.