Heinrich joins other Democrats in abortion grant bill

Mar. 28—A group of U.S. Senate Democrats, including Sen. Martin Heinrich, is pitching a plan to establish a grant program to expand the availability of abortion and other reproductive health care services in states where it remains legal.

Their bill, formally known as the Abortion Care Capacity Enhancement and Support Services Act, faces and uncertain future and would likely meet staunch opposition in the Republican-controlled House.

The bill would make $200 million annually through 2028 available to health care organizations for a wide range of purposes, including facility expansions, medical supply and equipment purchases, telehealth services and hiring staff, Heinrich's office said in a news release Thursday.

The grant program would be available to hospitals, clinics and nonprofit providers that "have experienced the highest increases of out-of-state patients seeking abortion and other reproductive service" following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to roll back federal abortion protections established under Roe v. Wade, the release said.

New Mexico abortion providers already have seen an influx of patients from states where abortion has been restricted, especially from neighboring Texas, which in 2021 banned abortions after cardiac activity is detected in an embryo, a stage that typically occurs about six weeks into a pregnancy.

When asked about how the legislation might make it through the House, a spokesman from Heinrich's office said the process "begins in the Senate."

"Sen. Heinrich will continue to push colleagues on both sides of the aisle to take up and pass this important legislation to protect access to reproductive care in New Mexico," Luis Soriano wrote in an email. "As for the House, that process is controlled by a radical GOP hellbent on taking away women's reproductive freedoms."