{"id":289439,"date":"2023-04-18T16:30:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T21:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=289439"},"modified":"2023-04-18T14:30:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T19:30:20","slug":"lawsuit-new-mexico-comstock-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lawsuit-new-mexico-comstock-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Press conference details lawsuit against New Mexico, emphasizes importance of Comstock Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

On Monday, April 17, a group of legislators, activists, and representatives from pro-life organizations, gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court for a <\/span>press conference<\/span><\/a> concerning a <\/span>lawsuit<\/span><\/a> filed on behalf of the city of <\/span>Eunice, New Mexico<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Jonathan F. Mitchell<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Mike Seibel<\/span><\/a> with Abortion on Trial, and Eunice City Attorney Tommy Parker filed the suit against New Mexico Governor Michelle Luhan Grisham, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, and the state government of New Mexico.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lawsuit states:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The city of Eunice seeks a declaratory judgment that 18 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 1461 and 1462 [known as the Comstock Act] are the \u201csupreme Law of the Land\u201d under Article VI of the Constitution and trump any state-law right to abortion that may be conferred by <\/span><\/i>HB 7<\/span><\/i><\/a> or the New Mexico constitution.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The lawsuit seeks enforcement of the <\/span>Comstock Act<\/span><\/a>, which <\/span>prohibits<\/span><\/a> mailing \u201cany article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing [that] may, or can, be used or applied for producing abortion[.]\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Comstock Act was passed in 1873, and has recently been used as the foundation for ordinances outlawing abortion in three New Mexico cities and two counties. Two of those cities, <\/span>Clovis<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Hobbs<\/span><\/a>, and both <\/span>Lea<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Roosevelt<\/span><\/a> counties were subsequently <\/span>sued<\/span><\/a> by New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez for violating an alleged right to abortion in the New Mexico constitution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speaking at Monday\u2019s press conference, Eunice Mayor Billy Hobbs <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0\u201cThe content of this lawsuit centers upon the ordinance we recently passed which \u2013 again \u2013 simply requires compliance with existing federal laws on abortion.\u201d He added, \u201c[I]t gives me great honor to say here in our nation\u2019s capital, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Attorney General Raul Torrez \u2013 we will see you in court.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

City of Eunice Councilwoman Erica Jones pointed out that there is a shortage of medical facilities in New Mexico, and that even New Mexico\u2019s governor has had to <\/span>travel out of state<\/span><\/a> for needed health care. \u201cRight now we are losing hospitals and medical professionals and getting abortion facilities,\u201d she <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>, adding:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When a baby was left in a dumpster in our county, that baby had to be airlifted to a Neonatal hospital in Lubbock, Texas – two hours away from our city. The baby’s kidneys and liver were failing, the only option we had for that baby was to fly him to the nearest neonatal doctor, in a different state. \u2026 I question why we weren’t able to provide the same level of care to a newborn baby whose life depended on us. \u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Right now our state\u2019s leadership is focused on spending 10 million of our taxpayer dollars on opening an abortion facility in our state. What New Mexicans need is not more abortion clinics, but what New Mexicans truly need is more hospitals. \u2026 Abortion is not a savior, abortion is a destroyer. Abortion hurts women and ends the lives of our children.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/a><\/p>\n

New Mexico State Senator David Gallegos also <\/span>spoke<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>\u201cThe passage of \u2026 House Bill 7, did not sit well with the citizens of Eunice, New Mexico. HB 7 prohibits cities and counties from restricting abortion, completely ignoring the fact that the ordinances passed in these three cities and two counties in New Mexico are simply requiring compliance with federal laws on abortion.\u201d He added, \u201cWe had bipartisan opposition to this bill in both the House and the Senate and the fact that this bill even passed shows that we have much work to do in our State. The fight for New Mexico is not going to be won overnight, but we will win this fight for the heart and soul of our State.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ending his speech, he concluded, \u201cMadame Governor, I think we all know what you are truly afraid of. You are afraid of these federal laws which are already on our books. Madame Governor, consider yourself Comstocked.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other speakers included Director of Right to Life of East Texas and Founder of the <\/span>Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Mark Lee Dickson<\/span><\/a>; Executive Director of Right to Life Committee New Mexico, <\/span>Ethel Maharg<\/span><\/a>; Right to Life Committee of Lea County member and Board Member of the Southern Baptist Convention\u2019s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, <\/span>Lori Bova<\/span><\/a>; Founder and CEO of Southwest Coalition for Life, <\/span>Mark Cavaliere<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Logan Brown<\/span><\/a> of Grace Covenant Reformed Church in Clovis, New Mexico; City Councilman <\/span>Chris Hanie<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of\u00a0Odessa, Texas<\/span>; <\/span>Dr. Michael New<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Sister Deirdre \u201cDeDe\u201d Byrne<\/span><\/a>, POSC; and <\/span>Pastor Brad Wells<\/span><\/a> from GraceWay Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. <\/span><\/p>\n

Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin attended the event and <\/span>heckled<\/span><\/a> the pro-lifers in attendance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, April 17, a group of legislators, activists, and representatives from pro-life organizations, gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court for a press conference concerning a lawsuit filed on behalf of the city of Eunice, New Mexico.\u00a0Jonathan F. Mitchell, Mike Seibel with Abortion on Trial, and Eunice City Attorney Tommy Parker filed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":289440,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3473,11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPress conference details lawsuit against New Mexico, emphasizes importance of Comstock Act<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The lawsuit seeks enforcement of the Comstock Act, which prohibits mailing \u201cany article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine" etc to be used for abortion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/lawsuit-new-mexico-comstock-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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