|
 Voters on Tuesday rejected the measure 55 percent to 45 percent
following an emotional and graphic campaign that brought in national
groups and hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising. The
campaign included protests that compared abortion to the Holocaust
and displayed pictures of aborted fetuses.
A coalition of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union
of New Mexico and Planned Parenthood, called the results a huge
victory for Albuquerque women and families.
"Albuquerque families sent a powerful message today_they do not want
the government interfering in their private medical decisions,"
Micaela Cadena with the Respect ABQ Women campaign said in a
statement. "Dangerous, unconstitutional laws like the one we
rejected today have no place in Albuquerque, no place in New Mexico,
no place anywhere in our nation."
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue said, "We hope
today's resounding defeat of this abortion ban sends a clear message
to the extreme forces around the country now trying to impose their
agenda on cities around this country. "
Activists on both sides of the issue said it was the first municipal
ballot measure on the matter, which usually is debated at the state
and federal level. Abortion opponents had hoped that a victory in
Albuquerque would create momentum in their long-running fight to ban
abortion.
Father Frank Pavone, national director of the New York-based Priests
for Life, said Tuesday night that anti-abortion activists should not
be discouraged.
"It is a brilliant strategy and we will see to it that this effort
is introduced in other cities and states," he said in a statement.
"The fact is, of course, that children have in fact been saved
through this effort, simply because we have raised the issue of
fetal pain, which does not even cross the minds of many
abortionists."
Much of the campaign focused on the debate over when and whether
fetuses can feel pain.
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Albuquerque became the focus of the latest anti-abortion campaign
because it is home to Southwestern Women's Options, one of just a
handful of clinics in the country that perform late-term abortions.
The proposal would have banned abortions after 20 weeks except to
save the mother's life.
A leader of the initiative, Tara Shaver, said her group gathered
signatures to put the issue to voters after failing to make headway
in the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
Asked if other cities with late-term abortion clinics might be
targeted in the future, Shaver said, "We are encouraging people to
see what can be done at the city level. ... We are starting to get
calls from people asking us how to do what we have done."
Police were stationed near polling places Tuesday as protesters from
both sides tried to persuade voters who were lining up before the
polls closed. One school reported an hour wait.
Michelle Halfacre said she cast her ballot in favor of the proposal,
which would ban abortions after 20 weeks except to save the mother's
life.
"I had an abortion when I was young, and I regret it," Halfacre
said. "I don't believe in it."
But Jonathan Cottrell, a crisis hotline volunteer, said he voted
against the proposal because he believes it marks the beginning of a
"slippery slope to ban abortion in general."
"I feel that women have the right to choose what to do to their
body," Cottrell said.
[Associated
Press; JERI CLAUSING]
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