By Bud Shaver
Albuquerque, New Mexico — New Mexico currently has zero Republican representation in the United States Congress, leaving millions of residents without a single federal advocate willing to challenge entrenched corruption, demand accountability, or defend basic safeguards in matters involving human life, public health, elections, and the rule of law.
This absence of representation did not occur organically. It followed the enactment of partisan congressional redistricting maps that dismantled New Mexico’s only Republican-held district, effectively engineering a one-party congressional delegation. Through redistricting, communities with distinct political, cultural, and regional identities were divided and absorbed into heavily Democratic districts, ensuring the elimination of meaningful opposition representation at the federal level.
The result is a state delegation entirely insulated from dissent — and a population stripped of political recourse in Washington.
With one-party control now consolidated across the legislature, executive offices, judiciary, regulatory agencies, and congressional delegation, New Mexico has become a national outlier — a state where abortion is effectively unregulated, election verification does not require proof of citizenship or residency, and even congressional criminal referrals involving aborted baby body parts have been rejected without prosecution.
Abortion Free New Mexico (AFNM) is calling on Senate Republican Leader John Thune and the broader Republican delegation to act decisively by advancing the SAVE Act, ending the filibuster if necessary, and restoring transparency, verification, and enforcement mechanisms that New Mexico has systematically weakened and dismantled.
“New Mexico is what happens when ideology replaces law,” said Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.“Oversight disappears, enforcement collapses, and powerful interests are protected while women, children, and the public are left unprotected.”
Federal Lawsuit Over Election Rolls Highlights Accountability Crisis
Adding to New Mexico’s collapse in accountability, the U.S. Department of Justice — under the Trump administration — has filed federal lawsuits against New Mexico and other states seeking to compel the disclosure of complete, unredacted statewide voter registration rolls, including names, dates of birth, addresses, and driver’s license or Social Security information, which the DOJ argues are required under federal election laws.
New Mexico officials have resisted the demand for full voter data, citing state privacy statutes and constitutional authority over election administration.
“When a state refuses to allow verification of its own voter rolls and is then sued by the federal government over it, that confirms what many citizens already know — the rule of law in New Mexico is no longer consistent or transparent,” Shaver said.
Complaints Filed — Accountability Removed
For more than a decade, Abortion Free New Mexico and its leadership have filed formal complaints, sworn statements, and public records requests with state agencies including the New Mexico Nursing Board and the Environment Department, documenting:
- Allegations that non-physicians performed abortion procedures
- Abortion-related injuries requiring emergency medical care
- Unsafe clinic conditions and improper handling of aborted babies remains as biohazard waste
- Failures in informed consent, especially involving minors and out-of-state patients
Despite these filings, no meaningful enforcement actions followed. No licenses revoked. No comprehensive investigations. No public accountability.
“We documented violations. We filed complaints. We followed the process,” Shaver said. “And instead of enforcing the law, the state chose to eliminate it.”
Legislature Repealed Criminal Abortion Law After Complaints Were Filed
In 2021, following years of documented complaints, the New Mexico Legislature repealed the state’s 1969 criminal abortion statute, eliminating criminal penalties and one of the last statutory guardrails governing abortion.
After repeal, abortion in New Mexico became governed almost entirely through administrative rules — without criminal enforcement mechanisms and without clear statutory physician-only requirements, unless enforced by agencies that have repeatedly declined to act.
“Rather than respond to evidence with oversight, lawmakers removed the law itself,” Shaver said. “That repeal sent a clear message: abortion providers would be shielded, not scrutinized.”
Congressional Findings: Trafficking and Research Using Aborted Baby Body Parts
The accountability collapse deepened when the New Mexico Attorney General declined to pursue a criminal referralfrom the U.S. House Select Panel on Infant Lives.
Following a multi-year investigation involving subpoenas, sworn testimony, internal documents, and financial records, the congressional panel referred Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) — the nation’s largest late-term abortion facility — and the University of New Mexico (UNM) for potential criminal violations related to the procurement, transfer, and research use of aborted fetal body parts.
According to the panel’s findings, documents indicated:
- Aborted babies’ organs and tissue were transferred from SWO to UNM
- UNM researchers used aborted baby body parts for experimentation and research
- Whole brains from aborted babies were admittedly used for dissection by “summer camp” students.
- Financial and logistical arrangements raised concerns about illegal trafficking and prohibited transactions
- The primary goal of UNM’s partnership with Southwestern Women’s Options was to increase the volume of second trimester abortions, in order to provide the UNM Health Sciences Center with an ample supply of aborted infant remains for “research” and other purposes.
- The Select Investigative Panel agreed with Shaver’s conclusions that New Mexico’s Spradling Act was violated.
Despite the federal referral, the New Mexico Attorney General rejected the case, and no prosecution or enforcement action followed.
“There will never be justice in New Mexico until leaders, lawmakers, and law enforcement officials stop propping up a failing abortion industry whose grisly trade harms the most vulnerable members of our communities,” said Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico. “When Congress refers credible evidence of trafficking and experimentation using aborted children and the state refuses to act, that is not discretion — it is protection.”
Weak Election Safeguards and Collapse of the Rule of Law
AFNM warns that the same political culture protecting the abortion industry has also weakened election safeguards.
Under current New Mexico law, voters are not required to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship or proof of residency when registering, relying instead on self-attestation. In parallel, New Mexico has adopted policies allowing non-U.S. citizens — including individuals without lawful immigration status — to obtain licenses to practice law, following a rule change by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
“When citizenship, elections, medical oversight, and criminal enforcement are all treated as optional, the rule of law collapses,” Shaver said.
Call for Immediate Senate Action
Abortion Free New Mexico emphasizes that New Mexico cannot reform itself internally after intentional redistricting eliminated the state’s only Republican seat in Congress, leaving millions of residents without meaningful federal representation and no internal check on one-party power.
“The U.S. Senate must act because New Mexico was deliberately stripped of representation,” Shaver concluded. “This did not happen by accident. Congressional maps were intentionally redrawn to erase opposition, silence dissent, and lock in one-party control. New Mexico has no Republican voice in Congress by design, and when representation is engineered out of existence, accountability follows it out the door. That is why the rest of the Senate has a responsibility to intervene. End the filibuster if necessary. Pass the SAVE Act. Restore verification, accountability, and the rule of law. This is not a procedural debate — it is a national emergency with life-and-death consequences.”
Abortion Free New Mexico is urging federal lawmakers to recognize New Mexico not as an exception, but as a warning— and to act now to restore transparency, verification, accountability, and justice.
For documentation, congressional records, public filings, and investigative reports, visit AbortionFreeNM.com.
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