Albuquerque, New Mexico- On March 26, the Albuquerque Journal reached out to us and spoke with Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico to get our perspective about how the overturning of Roe vs. Wade has impacted pro-life efforts in New Mexico.
For years now, New Mexico has been an abortion magnet because of the horrific and barbaric 3rd trimester abortions that have recently halted. However, Abortion Free New Mexico along with other pro-life groups saw the number of abortions steadily decline year after year. It’s no surprise that with Roe overturned and New Mexico’s extreme Democrat legislature, that abortion facilities are on the rise and out of state women traveling to obtain abortions are a daily sight.
Thankfully, the pro-life community has stepped up in many ways to combat this evil that seeks to overtake our state. Abortion Free New Mexico is grateful that the ABQ Journal was willing to extensively capture and report about the heart of our ministry.
Our efforts were highlighted in two articles featured on the front page of the Albuquerque Journal, Sunday edition (3/26/2023).
Pro-life activists Tara and Bud Shaver, founders of Abortion Free New Mexico. (Roberto E. Rosales/Journal)
As more abortion patients travel to New Mexico, the number of people holding prayer vigils and protests — carrying signs that offer to adopt a baby or quote Bible verses — to try to dissuade people from entering the clinics has grown, too.
Tara Shaver a self-described “pro-life missionary” who founded Abortion Free New Mexico with her husband, Bud Shaver, said the group used to have about 10 or 15 volunteers. Now, she said, they have about 70 and they have established a program to have people out on the sidewalks more regularly.
“It’s interesting to see how New Mexicans have responded in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned,” Shaver said. “Of course it kind of puts a fire under people to realize that there’s so much more that needs to be done on a daily basis.”
The volunteers pray and hold signs if they want to — the Shavers offer one that simply says “Pregnant? We can help” and provides a phone number.
“We really just care for these women, we believe that every woman deserves to know the truth and deserves to know that there are other options, viable options, to abortion,” Shaver said. “Women should never feel pressured or put in a corner that abortion is their only option.”
She pointed out that the rate of abortions in the state had been low in the years before Roe was overturned. Data provided to the Journal from the state Department of Health shows a steady decrease from 3,761 in 2011 to 2,618 in 2021, the most recent year for which complete data was available.
As Shaver and her volunteers started seeing more people with Texas license plates in the parking lots of Albuquerque clinics, they began reaching out to those who provide resources in that state in order to offer “positive alternatives to what could be a very traumatic abortion experience.”
Shaver touts two success stories: women who had come to New Mexico in October and November and ended up changing their minds, giving birth to a girl and boy this year.
“To see them now holding their babies is just a reward in and of itself,” Shaver said. “We’re just really happy for the moms and proud of them because they have something to show for their unplanned pregnancy, so to speak, and their crisis situation.”
New Mexico is one of six states plus Washington, D.C., where there are no restrictions on when an abortion can be done during a pregnancy. But the only clinic in the state to provide the procedure after 24 weeks stopped doing so earlier this year.
Among the best known “pro-life missionaries” are Tara and Bud Shaver and their group — now called Abortion Free New Mexico. They moved to New Mexico because of Southwestern Women’s Options.
“Our part whenever we first moved here in 2010 was really to do investigative research and undercover projects and just to kind of paint the picture of what the abortion industry looks like,” Tara Shaver said in an interview last week.
She said they would obtain 911 calls — with personal identifying information redacted — and use them “to show people the kinds of injuries that could occur in an abortion facility.” They have filed complaints to the state Medical Board and succeeded in getting it to launch formal reviews into providers from Southwestern Women’s Options.
Their ranks of volunteers conducting prayer vigils and protests on sidewalks outside of clinics grew after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, Shaver said. They document when ambulances come and go.
“We really want to make doing abortions in New Mexico as uncomfortable as possible and we want to document the reality of what’s happening in these places,” Shaver said. “The pro-abortion side says that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. But they’re never safe for the unborn child.”
Shaver called Southwestern Women’s Options pause of abortions after 24 weeks a “small victory, certainly, for the third trimester babies” and said she does not believe there should be any exceptions for fetal abnormalities.
“If their baby has a fetal abnormality then we’re going to be there and support them through the whole process,” she said. “If their baby is not going to survive very long outside the womb at least she’s going to have a chance to hold her baby, bond with him or her and have a chance to meet them as opposed to taking their life prematurely, and always wondering what may have been.”
Now is the best time to get more involved. Please consider partnering with us by being on the frontlines, joining our team of volunteers, or by becoming a monthly donor. Women deserve better than abortion and unborn children should have the right to life outside the womb. We have an unprecedented opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community, so we hope you’ll join us!
Get Involved or Support our Work so that we can help more moms choose life!
Albuquerque, New Mexico- Abortion Free New Mexico has confirmed that the notorious Southwestern Women’s Options abortion facility is no longer performing third trimester abortions. Citing staff shortages and overwhelming clientele from out of state, they are now referring to other abortion facilities in Colorado, Maryland and Washington D.C.
Southwestern Women’s Options is the abortion facility where the late Carmen Landau specialized in providing third trimester abortions. Her sudden death is presumably in part the reason for this abrupt change.
Southwestern Women’s Options is, however, still offering abortion pills in clinic, and by mail, as well as first and second trimester abortions through 23.6 weeks of pregnancy. This means that Albuquerque currently has two abortion facilities that offer abortions up to six months of pregnancy, Southwestern Women’s Options and the University of New Mexico Center for Reproductive Health.
Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico issued the following statement,
Since 2010 Abortion Free New Mexico has worked to see the day when Curtis Boyd and Southwestern Women’s Options would no longer give New Mexico the reputation of being the late-term abortion capital of the nation. After years of public exposure, relentless pressure and lots of prayer, t
hat day has finally come. This is a small victory, especially for third trimester babies, that Southwestern Women’s Options is no longer equipped to kill. Every abortion is a tragedy because it takes a human life but late-term abortions are particularly disturbing because they are performed on viable babies in the latest stages of pregnancy. We hope and pray that this is just the beginning of the end of all abortions in our state and we will keep fighting to be a voice for unborn children and to help women choose life with compassionate life affirming resources.”
Albuquerque, New Mexico- In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade! Power has been restored back to the people, states all across the country can now enact and enforce just laws protecting the most vulnerable lives, those living and developing in their mothers womb.
Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico issued the following statement,
Today’s SCOTUS decision will save countless lives and ushers in a new era of building a culture that loves life across this nation.
The Supreme Court of the United States has finally reinstated democracy with the overruling of Roe v. Wade by restoring the legislative power back to the states. For far too many years the states have been prohibited from enacting life saving legislation that would protect babies and their mothers from the horrors and long term effects of abortion. The unjust halting of pro-life legislation across the nation by the lower courts and by judicial activism can now come to an end.
Abortion Free New Mexico is grateful that the States will now be able to enact and enforce life saving legislation that will protect the most vulnerable lives in our community, pre-born lives.
In New Mexico, our battle for life continues as we must now work harder than ever to support Pro-Life Candidates and take back control from the radical pro-abortion Democrats that have seized all levels of power, thwarting any common sense Pro-Life measures from being passed. New Mexico has been and will continue to be ground zero in our country for abortion tourism and a destination for the most extreme and barbaric abortions through all nine months of pregnancy.
Abortion Free New Mexico stands with the local Pro-Life community to build a stronger alliance to meet the needs of pregnant women and we renew our call for candidates on the 2022 election ballot to sign our Pro-Life Pledge as we work together to build a culture that loves life in our state.”
Tara Shaver, an antiabortion missionary, kneels at the graves of fetal remains at a plot called Baby Land inside Sandia Memory Gardens cemetery in Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico was featured today in this LA Times article highlighting how New Mexico is ground zero and how we need to support pregnant women in a post Roe America:
While abortion advocates consider the coalition a sort of underground railroad for women in crisis, those who oppose the work — like Tara Shaver, a local antiabortion missionary — say the system affirms Albuquerque’s reputation as the “late-term abortion capital of the world.”
“The term ‘abortion’ has lost all meaning, and this place brings it back,” Shaver said. “We don’t need to shuttle women into New Mexico. We need to meet these women where they are and provide enough support that they don’t need to choose between their child’s life and their own.” Shaver organized a schedule with other local Christians to ensure that at least one person is praying during every operational hour of local abortion clinics.
Albuquerque, New Mexico-Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Our family is humbled to serve the Lord in New Mexico as pro-life missionaries and to be the voice for the children the Lord loves so much. We couldn’t do this important life saving ministry without you! This month we have continued to light up the darkness with our prayer campaign outside the UNM abortion center, every day at least one person is present but we need more people to sign up for one hour.
We also called for accountability of our elected officials at the city level when two republicans voted to make sure that Planned Parenthood of New Mexico receives $250,000 of our tax dollars. If these republicans had voted against this funding it would have been blocked.
TAKE ACTION: Abortion Free New Mexico urges you to contact councilors Brook Bassan and Trudy Jones to express your disapproval of their actions and to urge them to resign immediately.
This is a prime example why the pro-life pledge we are asking candidates to sign is so vital. So far we have 30 candidates from across the state who have pledged to defend life from conception to natural death. Thanks for standing with us and together we are building a culture that loves life.
“Tara Shaver with Abortion Free New Mexico spoke with American Family News about the quarter-million dollars given to the local abortion provider. According to Shaver, the city of Albuquerque is already facing many crisis situations financially, so she finds it ‘completely absurd’ to reward a non-essential business. The official minutes from the May 16 meeting indicate the city took a half-million dollars from ‘affordable housing’ and gave half of that to Planned Parenthood to free up more of the abortion company’s budget for abortions.”
As Ward 29 Chairman, Bud would like to thank everyone who came to our first ward meeting at Lava Rock Brewing Company. We had an amazing turnout with about 60 people present. There is great potential to flip this district and take New Mexico back from the liberal Democrats.
Abortion Free New Mexico wrapped up another successful month of prayer with our No Sidewalk Without the Savior Campaign. We have our amazing team of volunteers to thank for making sure that each day people were present and praying for an end to abortion at the University of New Mexico. One of our volunteers shared this testimony,
“I need to tell you what happened yesterday when praying at the clinic with Tom. A young lady walked all the way up the hill, started with ‘I am a Christian’ and told us she has 3 kids and just found out she is pregnant. She is barely making it now and is concerned about another baby. Her name is Samantha. Does not want an abortion but… Did not say she is married. We were struck with her concern for the future. We panicked to some extent. It is easy to pray “shut down this clinic” but tough to help someone going thru a real challenge. We prayed with her and gave her one of the resource packets.”
This story demonstrates the importance of being present at the places where women seeking abortions are.
If our team had not been there, this woman wouldn’t have local resources to pursue and she most likely wouldn’t have reached out for prayer because of the shame and stigma that is inevitable for women considering an abortion. It is a blessing to know that when the body of Christ is present opportunities arise and we can be the light in this dark world.
Here’s another sidewalk testimony confirming how Abortion Free New Mexico’s prayerful presence is making a difference:
From a Tuesday Volunteer: “A gentleman pulled up to the stop sign and called out to us telling us that he was not going to abort his baby, that he was going to keep his baby. He then did the sign of the cross and seemed so full of joy.”
Join us tomorrow for Faith To Action Friday as we collectively come together to put our faith into action outside the UNM abortion center.
You’re Invited to Pray & to Stand Up For Life at the University of New Mexico’s free standing abortion facility.
Friday June 3, 2022
Time: 10-11am
Location: UNM Center for Reproductive Health (2301 Yale Blvd. SE. in Albuquerque.) Use street parking on Renard.
This month, Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico joined Owen Shroyer on the Infowars War Room to discuss how Late (Third Trimester) Full-Term abortions are not a conspiracy theory but a tragic reality. New Mexico is the proof. She also pointed out that in light of Roe v Wade being overturned that New Mexico will continue to be ground zero for all abortions and abortion tourism.
“Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico has been fighting abortions in America for years, she is now attempting to end abortion in New Mexico. Tara Shaver joins Owen to discuss her pro-life activism in New Mexico and what she sees ahead as Roe v Wade will soon be overturned.” Infowars War Room
Operation Rescue assisted Abortion Free New Mexico with the initial investigation and exposure of this tragedy.
By Cheryl Sullenger, (Republished with the permission of Operation Rescue) Albuquerque, NM – Southwestern Women’s Options, a full-term abortion facility located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has settled a major medical malpractice/wrongful death suit for $900,000. According to the Albuquerque Journal, the settlement agreement was reached with the abortion facility last fall.
“Southwestern Women’s Option clinic, in settling its part of the lawsuit, sought a confidentiality provision to bar the parties from discussing the settlement. They are specifically not permitted to disparage the clinic or its doctors, according to the settlement agreement, which was filed as an exhibit in the lawsuit,” the newspaper reported.
Last month, the University of New Mexico agreed to pay the family of Keisha Atkins $365,000 to settle their part of the lawsuit that alleged UNM negligently referred Atkins to Southwestern Women’s Options where Atkins received a fatal multi-day abortion. That settlement resulted in a full dismissal of the wrongful death suit in April.
That brings the total payout to Atkins’ mother, Tina Atkins, and her sister, Nichole, to over $1.26 million. Southwestern Women’s Options’ owner, Curtis Boyd, reached the settlement during mediation in relation to allegations that “its subsequent treatment of Atkins fell below the standard of care and was negligent,” according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Atkins was 23 years old and six months pregnant when she sought an abortion at the UNM Center for Reproductive Health early 2017. That abortion facility determined that Atkins was too far along for a procedure there, so she was referred to Southwestern Women’s Options, which is one of the few abortion facilities in the U.S. that openly conducts abortions through all trimesters of pregnancy.
Once at SWO, Atkins underwent a multi-day late-term abortion. Before the process could be completed, Atkins was taken to UNM Medical Center where she died on February 4, 2017. The Albuquerque Journal reported that Tina Atkins described during a deposition meeting her daughter in the hospital that fateful day when Keisha was still alive and talking.
Keisha was combative, and ‘a little bit delirious,’ Atkins said. But she could still talk. “The first thing that came out of her mouth was, ‘Mom, I’m going to die.’”
An autopsy was done at the University of New Mexico that listed Atkins’ cause of death as “Pulmonary Thromboembolism due to Pregnancy.”
Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico, who was initially tipped to Atkins’ death, was among the first to receive a copy of the autopsy report. Suspicious that the cause of death blamed Atkins pregnancy instead of the abortion, Shaver asked Operation Rescue to review the autopsy results.
Operation Rescue’s staff, which is experienced in analyzing autopsy reports, found that the listed cause of death was untrue, and suspected that UNM was attempting to cover up the liability of UNM and SWO in Atkins’ death.
Operation Rescue discovered that the autopsy report itself noted that Atkins developed an infection during the multi-day abortion that turned septic. As a complication of the septicemia, she developed a clotting disorder. It was a blood clot found in her lung caused by the abortion process that eventually took her life – not her pregnancy. At the time, Curtis Boyd commented in the Albuquerque Journal attacking Operation Rescue’s discovery:
For those who oppose women’s reproductive justice to exploit this sad event by putting forward lies about abortion and the patient’s care is sickening. We trust the citizens of New Mexico to be compassionate and understanding of the needs of women and to see through this inflammatory attack on women’s reproductive rights and on us.”
In the end, the settlements vindicated Operation Rescue’s findings and proved that it was Boyd who was lying to cover up his clinic’s negligence in Atkins’ death.
We are glad that the Keisha Atkins wrongful death case is now closed and that her family will receive a large settlement. I know that no amount of money will compensate them for the death of their loved one, but I pray it will bring closure to the family,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “These agreements confirm a fatal level of negligence that wrongly cost a woman her life. Southwestern Women’s Options and the UNM Center for Reproductive Choice should be closed by the state to protect the public from any continued negligence. Given the leftist nature of the current state government, I know that seems unlikely, but it was also unlikely that anyone would ever discover the truth about Atkins’ death that UNM’s autopsy tried to cover up. Yet we did uncover that truth, which eventually led to this $1.26 million payout, so anything is possible,” Newman concluded.
The case was handled by Abortion on Trial. More information about this case is available on their website.
Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico issued the following statement:
“Abortion Free New Mexico is thankful for the collaboration with Operation Rescue who assisted us with the initial investigation and exposure of this tragedy. Our hope is that the family of Keisha Atkins can find closure and peace and that her death will help serve to deter other women from choosing abortion. This $1.26 million dollar settlement should set a precedent that late-term abortions pose serious life threatening risks to women and that UNM should refrain from their participation in referring and providing abortion services. New Mexico tax dollars are funding these risky procedures through medicaid and now the tax payers are footing the bill for the abortion deaths of women.
When will this insanity end?
Abortion Free New Mexico continues to be on the front lines ministering to vulnerable women targeted by the New Mexico abortion cartel, and also works tirelessly researching, investigating, and ultimately exposing the tragic consequences of an unregulated up to the day of birth abortion industry that is totally out of control in our state.”
Albuquerque, New Mexico- According to the most recent data, published in 2019 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), New Mexico unfortunately leads the nation with the highest percentage of late-term abortions. In other words, late-term abortions represent 11.6% of all abortions performed in New Mexico. TABLE 10 of the CDC Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2019 report shows that New Mexico performed 406 late-term abortions (over 21 weeks gestation) which was 11.6% of the total number of abortions performed in the state (3,485) that year. By comparison, of the 43 states that met the CDC’s reporting requirements, (Nine states, California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York State, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin either did not report, did not report by gestational age, or did not meet reporting standards) Florida performed the most abortions according to TABLE 10 with 71,914 in 2019, however, 217 or 0.3% of the total number of abortions performed in Florida were over 21 weeks gestation.
Since 2010, Abortion Free New Mexico leaders Bud and Tara Shaver have reported (and coined the designation) that Albuquerque, New Mexico is the, “late-term abortion capital of the country” based on the groundbreaking research and undercover investigations that they have conducted. Virtually every major news source in the country has reported on this fact.
The New York Times was one of the earliest to report that Albuquerque, New Mexico is known as the “late-term abortion capital of the country” in 2013:
Albuquerque has become the latest flash point in the abortion wars, with Operation Rescue, the militant group based in Kansas, calling it the “late-term abortion capital of the country.” This is because a private clinic, Southwestern Women’s Options, is one of only a few nationwide that offers abortions after the sixth month of pregnancy. The drive for a city referendum has been led here by a couple who trained with Operation Rescue in Kansas and moved here three years ago as anti-abortion “missionaries.” “We felt called to come and serve in Albuquerque,” said Tara Shaver, 29. She and her husband, Bud, moved here largely to find a way to shut down Southwestern Women’s Options, she said.
The CDC report Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2019 published on November 26, 2021 confirms what Abortion Free New Mexico has been sounding the alarm on for many years.
It is important to note that while New Mexico performed the second highest number (406) of late-term abortions in 2019 behind New York City (1,096) only 2.2 percent of the total number of abortions performed (49,784) in New York City were late-term abortions. Additionally, according to a survey conducted by Abortion Free New Mexico, in conjunction with this report, no abortion clinic in the entire state of New York will perform an abortion beyond 24 weeks gestation. New Mexico on the other hand will perform full-term abortions up to the day of birth. In fact, Abortion Free New Mexico conducted an undercover investigation in 2017 that revealed that late-term abortionists at Southwestern Women’s Options located in Albuquerque, New Mexico will perform a full-term abortion at 37 weeks of pregnancy.
The designation that Albuquerque, New Mexico is the “late-term abortion capital of the country” takes into consideration not only the high number of late-term abortions performed after 20-21 weeks gestation, but also the fact that New Mexico has become the hub for abortion tourism where women travel to New Mexico for full-term abortions well into the third trimester because their state has either:
Enacted common sense legislation prohibiting late-term abortions, or
As is the case with the handful of radically pro-abortion states, where there aren’t necessarily laws restricting abortions, abortionists regulate themselves by refusing to perform abortions beyond a certain point.
For example, while New York performs abortions over 21 weeks gestation, women travel from New York to New Mexico to obtain third trimester abortions. In fact, in 2013 Abortion Free New Mexico leaders, with the help of Operation Rescue brought national attention to the fact that a woman was severely injured after traveling from New York to obtain an abortion at 35 weeks gestation at Southwestern Women’s Options, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Southwestern Women’s Southwestern Women’s Options, owned and operated by Curtis Boyd who specializes in third trimester abortions, is drawing women from all across the nation, and even the world, for the latest possible full-term abortions. Disturbingly, Albuquerque based late-term abortionist, Curtis Boyd, takes great pride in this. A fact that he openly admitted when asked in a 2017 interview,
So when he’s asked about what he thinks when he hears Albuquerque described as “the late-term abortion capital of the nation”—a term the Shavers take credit for coining—Boyd responds wryly. “A great sense of pride,” he says.
It is necessary to note that both Maryland and Colorado are also destinations for third-trimester abortions, however Maryland did not meet the CDC reporting requirements and according to the CDC data, Colorado performed 173 late-term abortions (1.3 percent of the total abortion rate) in 2019 compared to 406 late-term abortions performed in New Mexico.
Late-term abortions are performed over a 3-4 day period. It includes an injection into the mother’s womb on the first day which causes a fetal heart attack. Over the course of the next few days, the cervix is artificially dilated so that the mother can be induced to deliver her stillborn child. This is called the induction method and occurs at an out patient clinic setting or in a local hotel. Late-term abortions are never performed when the mother’s life is at risk, the procedure alone takes too much time to benefit a woman who is in a dire situation. In fact, this abortion method has many risks and is responsible for the death of at least one local New Mexico woman, Keisha Atkins in 2017. A late-term abortion in New Mexico can cost as much as $17,000.
The University of New Mexico (UNM) also performs late-term abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy at their free standing abortion facility in Albuquerque, NM. This location in particular is the the focus of Abortion Free New Mexico’s “No Sidewalk Without the Savior” prayer campaign that is launching on April 1, 2022. For more information and to sign up click here.
Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico issued the following statement,
“New Mexico currently has zero laws protecting pregnant women and their unborn babies from dangerous and barbaric late-term abortions. It is the absence of laws and the unwillingness of our legislators to come to the table to seek the wellbeing of both mother and child that has made us an abortion magnet, even in the latest stages of pregnancy. Abortion Free New Mexico is working many angles to build a culture that protects life, because every life is unique, precious and unrepeatable.”
Albuquerque, NM– This is the latest installment documenting the abortion landscape in New Mexico and a continuation of Abortion Free New Mexico’s exposure of the radical abortion agenda at the University of New Mexico.
In Abortion Free New Mexico’s latest undercover project that has taken viewers inside the notorious Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO) late term abortion facility, the investigation has also uncovered that the University of New Mexico (UNM), a publicly funded institution, is willing to collude with late term abortionists to deliver dead babies at UNM Hospital once a deadly injection is administered by abortionists at SWO.
The price tag of a late term abortion at Southwestern Women’s Options is a staggering $17,000, but in a SHOCKING revelation, SWO employee Susana Estorga, states that for $5,000 they would be willing to offer the fetal injection ALONE and then send the woman away to deliver the baby 2-3 days later elsewhere.
The fetal injection administered by SWO abortionists kills the baby in the womb by slowly stopping their heart over 4-6 grueling hours.
If a woman opts to obtain the fetal injection at Southwestern Women’s Options, SWO has an expectation that other OB-GYN’s will oversee the completion of the labor and delivery of the stillborn child. However, most OB-GYN’s will not participate in abortions, especially at religious hospitals, like Presbyterian in Albuquerque, so SWO is apparently relying upon the University of New Mexico’s entrenched abortion agenda and utilizes an arrangement to ensure that “injection only” patients can labor and deliver their dead babies at UNM Hospital.
In an undercover phone call placed to the Women’s and Children’s Health Care Clinic at UNM Hospital, Tara Shaver with Abortion Free New Mexico also confirmed the fact that, Lily Bayat a UNM Fellow at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center would deliver the dead baby at UNM Hospital after Southwestern Women’s Options administered the lethal injection.
Lily Bayat holds positions at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences center in the Divisions of Family Planning and the Department of Obstetrics & Gynocology. In addition, Bayat receives an annual salary by the University New Mexico of $57,747 as a, “Visiting Instructor”.
(Second year Fellow- UNM Abortionist Lily Bayat, MD)
“Abortion Free New Mexico has exposed just how deep the collusion is between the University of New Mexico and Southwestern Women’s Options to ensure that late term abortions continue up to the day of birth. Hospitals are meant to be places where the sick go for healing, but the abortion industry is utilizing them for their own sordid death agenda.” Tara Shaver, Spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.
GLARING CONTRADICTIONS
The Albuquerque Journal published an article on December 20, 2015 titled, UNMHSC halts training at private abortion clinic in it the ABQ Journal reported that, “UNMHSC officials said last week that they will no longer send medical fellows or residents to Boyd’s clinic, which is located in Downtown Albuquerque.”
However, UNM’s website contradicts that report and still clearly states, as of publishing time of this article, October 31, 2017…
“Fellows are trained in abortion and contraception care, using evidence-based medical and surgical methods. Training occurs primarily at the UNM Center for Reproductive Health, the Albuquerque Planned Parenthood Surgical Center, and Southwestern Women’s Options (Dr. Curtis Boyd). Later second and third trimester abortions are performed at UNM Hospital and at SWO.”
In addition, Southwestern Women’s Options is currently listed as a UNM Clinical Training Site.
Despite these glaring contradictions that show a continued relationship between UNM and SWO, Abortion Free New Mexico has conclusively confirmed that a current Fellow at the University of New Mexico, Lily Bayak, is willing to work with Southwestern Women’s Options patients to complete a late term abortion at UNM Hospital once the fetal injection is administered to kill the pre-born baby.
Fr. Stephen Imbarrato: The Protest Priest with Priests for Life issued the following statement,
“The collaboration between Southwestern Women’s Options, UNM Center for Reproductive Health abortion facility, and UNM Hospital shows that UNMHSC headed by Dr Paul Roth is the heart of the New Mexico Abortion Industry.
As a taxpayer, I am appalled that tax money pays for this unnecessary bloodshed! What is worse is the knowledge that Dr. Paul Roth’s right hand man, Ryan Cangiolosi is the head of the New Mexico Republican Party! This is the “statewide conspiracy of complacency and complicity” that we have been speaking about for a decade now!”
ACTION ITEM: Abortion Free New Mexico is asking that you contact the University of New Mexico Regents and respectfully ask them to STOP ALLOWING ABORTIONISTS AT UNM HOSPITAL TO PROMOTE AND PERFORM LATE TERM ABORTIONS AT THE EXPENSE OF NEW MEXICO TAX DOLLARS. In addition, respectfully ask them to PERMENANTLY cut all ties with Planned Parenthood of New Mexico and Southwestern Women’s Options.
Albuquerque, NM- Abortion Free New Mexico has released a more in-depth interview with Felicia, who went undercover into Southwestern Women’s Options, the nation’s most notorious late term abortion facility, while 37 weeks pregnant. World Net Daily described the first video, released last week, documenting Southwestern Women’s Options willingness to perform an abortion as late as 37 weeks of pregnancy as “stunning.”
Felicia was the perfect operative to go inside to document just how far into the pregnancy Southwestern Women’s Options was willing to perform a late-term abortion since her son Jonah was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, while in utero as a result of two genetic tests. Two days after what would have been Felicia’s scheduled abortion appointment at 38 weeks of pregnancy she went into labor and he was born, perfectly healthy. In this video she shares more about the fetal diagnosis she received that resulted in pressure to have an abortion by her genetic counselor. She also shares words of encouragement aimed at women who may be facing a similar fetal anomaly diagnosis while pregnant and speaks to the sanctity of all human life.
“This project has uncovered the shocking reality that the medical community is knowingly relying on faulty and misleading genetic testing that leads women to local abortion facilities to kill their babies. According to known published studies, 60% of prenatal tests can come back with false positives on babies without any genetic defects,” stated Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico.
In this in-depth follow up interview, Felicia shares more about what it was like going into the late term facility. She discusses her emotions while inside, her interactions with clinic staff, and how the late term procedure is performed over 3-4 days. She also shares her reaction when told that the procedure will cost $17,000 and about how she was instructed to obtain New Mexico Medicaid to have the procedure paid for with state tax dollars.
Church Militant wrote up an extensive report about this latest project and an exclusive profile piece about our work over the past 7 years here in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Here is an excerpt:
Bud and Tara Shaver, pro-life advocates dedicated to ending abortion in America, were commissioned to Albuquerque by Operation Rescue in 2010. They have been working full-time to “bring our culture and community to a point … where New Mexico understands and embraces a culture of life.”
Church Militant spoke with Tara Shaver about their latest project, investigating Southwestern Women’s Options to see just how close to birth they were willing to abort. Shaver said, “We’d been praying for an informant or someone to come forward with information,” when Felicia (last name withheld) approached the group through a mutual friend…
Father Stephen Imbarrato, of Priests for Life issued the following statement,
“The teaching of the Catholic Church is clear. Every procured abortion is intrinsically evil. The undercover work of Abortion Free New Mexico exposes that abortion is not only legal in New Mexico, but is performed up till the day of birth funded with public tax dollars. As a Catholic priest, I am appalled at how many Catholic politicians and taxpayers in our state defy their Catholic faith and support this mass murder of the unborn. It is a conspiracy of silence that has brought us to this unacceptable and deplorable situation. The blood of these babies is crying out to heaven for justice yet the silence from every sector of our state is deafening.”
Albuquerque, NM- Abortion Free New Mexico released an undercover video that gives a rare look from inside the nation’s largest late term abortion facility, Southwestern Women’s Options. This video is 5 minutes long and combines raw footage of dialogue with clinic staff and also exclusive interviews with the undercover investigator detailing her unique account of what it was like to go inside of a late term abortion center while pregnant at 37 weeks gestation.
Felicia, the undercover investigator, had been given two genetic tests that were positive for Trisomy 18, also called Edwards’ Syndrome, that causes severe developmental delays due to an extra chromosome 18. This made Felicia the ideal operative for going inside Southwestern Women’s Options to uncover just how far into the pregnancy they would perform a third trimester abortion. During her consultation with Susana Estorga, a clinic employee, Estorga counsels Felicia and prepares her for the 4 day long procedure that begins with an injection into the womb through either the abdominal wall or vaginally. This injection causes a fetal heart attack that stops the baby’s heart over the course of 4-6 grueling hours. She is also told that the procedure will cost $17,000 and was instructed on how to obtain New Mexico Medicaid to have the procedure paid for with state tax dollars.
Two days after what would have been Felicia’s scheduled abortion appointment at 38 weeks of pregnancy she went into labor at home and later delivered a healthy baby boy.
(Felicia and healthy baby Jonah!)
“Southwestern Women’s Options shows no bounds when it comes to performing late term abortions on babies with birth defects, even as late as 37 weeks gestation. In addition this case proves that there are, in fact, a percentage of women who receive false positive testing for birth defects diagnosed in utero. The inconclusive genetic testing and often misdiagnosis offered by genetic counselors are a death sentence for vulnerable babies in the womb. This is an appalling revelation that the community at large must question, especially when these genetic tests are then used to pressure women into obtaining lucrative late term abortions that our latest video reveals can cost, up to $17,000,” stated Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico.
Shaver has documented extensively how dangerous the late term procedure is. In fact, Abortion Free New Mexico received an anonymous tip that, in February, 2017 a woman died from complications incurred during the several day late term abortion procedure. Abortion Free New Mexico’s attorney then obtained the woman’s autopsy report, through a public records request, which shed light on how the late term abortion contributed to her untimely death.
Abortion Free New Mexico will be releasing a more in-depth interview in the coming days with Felicia about what she experienced inside Southwestern Women’s Options, including a personal message to pregnant women who may be facing a similar fetal anomaly diagnosis.
Report by Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President of Operation Rescue
Albuquerque, NM – Tara Shaver opened the mysterious letter that arrived in the mail. She could hardly believe what she was reading.
It was an anonymous tip that informed her a woman named Keisha Atkins had died from a late-term abortion on February 4, 2017.
Shaver and her husband, Bud, who lead Abortion Free New Mexico, have spent years laboring in the pro-life trenches in Albuquerque exposing the largest late-term abortion facility in the United States, Southwestern Women’s Options, and its connections to the publicly-funded University of New Mexico.
Due to their experience and training, once serving as interns for Operation Rescue, they immediately jumped into action. They filed a public records request for Atkins’ autopsy and established a valuable line of communications with her family. They discovered that Atkins’ abortion had been done at Southwestern Women’s Options, which made perfect sense since it alone in New Mexico specializes in late-term abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
They consulted with Operation Rescue over the meaning of the autopsy report. Such reports are written in technical medical jargon that is sometimes difficult for anyone without a medical background to decode. However, this correspondent has been reading autopsies concerning abortion-related deaths for decades.
It did not take long to realize that as everything was not as it seemed.
At first glance, the cause and manner of death of this initially healthy 23-year old woman was made it appear that abortion was not even a factor in Atkins’s death. The cause of death was “Pulmonary thromboembolism due to pregnancy.” Her manner of death was natural.
In other words, the autopsy findings that a blood clot formed as a result of her healthy pregnancy and coincidentally at the moment of the abortion, it traveled to her lungs and killed her.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
Once Operation Rescue and Abortion Free New Mexico announced Atkin’s death and released the public autopsy report, the Albuquerque Journal jumped all over it, declaring in their headlines, “Autopsy rules out abortion as cause of death.”
The newspaper cited the opinion of the UNM Office of the Medical Investigator that it was Atkins’ pregnancy that killed her, not the four-day late-term abortion process that Operation Rescue believes was mismanaged by eighty-year old abortionist, Curtis Boyd, and fumbled by UNM hospital where she died.
But as William Shakespeare once said, “Truth will out.”
No matter how much UNM may have tried to obfuscate what happened to Keisha Atkins, the truth seeps through in the pages of the autopsy report in descriptions of her physical condition and the complications she experienced in what must have been an excruciatingly panic-filled and painful death.
“Somehow, these people want us to believe that Atkins developed blood clots as a result of her pregnancy, and through no one’s fault, a blood clot just coincidentally moved to her lung and killed her in the middle of a late-term abortion, which, of course, played no part in her death,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “That’s ludicrous in light of the rest of the autopsy report findings.”
Here is what happened to Keisha Atkins, according to the autopsy report, information provided by her family, and documented information obtained through research by Operation Rescue.
Atkins reported to Southwestern Women’s Options, the nation’s largest late-term abortion facility, on January 31, 2017, to begin a four-day late-term abortion. She was at least six months pregnant, and may have been even farther along according to the tipster that contacted Tara Shaver.
Sometime during the ensuing days, something went wrong and Atkins developed a bacterial infection.
Possible sources for such infections during late-term abortions include:
Complications from the repeated insertion and removal of laminaria cervical dilators;
The fact that the baby in the womb is killed on Day 1 of the procedure and the woman must carry her dead fetus for days before completing the abortion;
Unsanitary conditions and/or practices by abortion facility staff.
On February 3, four days after her abortion process began, Adkins reported to Southwestern Women’s Options for the completion of her abortion. She was showing signs of a dangerous, systemic infection known as sepsis. She also displayed difficulty breathing as she was being prepared for labor. (Read more about how late-term abortions are done.)
Because of the seriousness of her condition, an ambulance was called at 12:04 p.m., but was later cancelled by the clinic, according to a 911 Computer Aided Dispatch transcript obtained by Operation Rescue. At some later point in the day, Atkins was transported by unknown means to UNM Hospital.
Once at the hospital, Atkins was tested for blood clots with negative results. The autopsy report made an effort to explain the rare false-negative test with one statistic that shows false negatives occur in as high as 10.7% of cases. (In other words, no one was at fault.)
Atkins continued to suffer shortness of breath and below base-line oxygen levels despite supplemental oxygen. She also experienced abdominal cramping pain, an elevated heart rate, and reduced ventricular function in her heart.
Additional tests of her placental tissue showed the presence of a bacterial infection. Post-mortem tests of her uterus also showed evidence of the infection.
Why is this significant to understanding the truth behind Atkins’ death?
DIC is a clotting disorder that begins with the rapid formation of small blood clots that block small blood vessels. As the clotting becomes more aggressive, it essentially strips the rest of the blood supply of the clotting factor. This typically results in hemorrhaging of the body cavity and various organs, including the brain.
In addition to bacterial infections, other causes of DIC can include retention of a dead fetus and surgery – both of which were documented in Atkins’ autopsy report.
Supposedly operating under a false-negative test for blood clots, UNM Hospital staff conducted a surgical Dilation and Evacuation (D&E) dismemberment abortion to remove the dead baby.
During the D&E procedure, Atkins suffered a fatal heart attack due to a blood clot in her lungs. Resuscitation efforts were so aggressive that her ribs were broken, yet they proved unsuccessful.
She also received “multiple blood product transfusions,” – a standard treatment for DIC – but to no avail.
Atkins was pronounced dead at 12:10 a.m. on February 4, 2017.
Atkins’ autopsy revealed “acute coagulopathy” as well as hemorrhaging in the brain (left adrenal gland), inside the abdominal cavity, and from the uterus. She also had a massive build-up of serous fluid around her lungs.
How do we know she hemorrhaged from the uterus when that is not specifically mentioned in the report? There was a curious notation in the initial description of Atkins’s body that stood out.
The UNM coroner’s determination that Atkins died from “Pulminary thromboembolism due to pregnancy” is suspect, at best.
These are a few of the symptoms described or strongly inferred in Atkins’ autopsy report thatthe coroner’s opinion does not account for
Uterine hemorrhaging;
Hemorrhaging in the brain;
Blood found in the abdominal cavity;
A large amount of serous fluid found around the lungs, (over 40 ounces);
Bruising of the extremities (another symptom of DIC).
The UNM cause of death also does not account for the multiple transfusions of blood products she was given at the UNM hospital.
These symptoms do not make sense in light of a random blood clot in the lungs. However, they do make sense in light of the clotting and hemorrhaging that exemplifies DIC.
It more likely that during Atkins’ four-day abortion process — during which she retained the body of her dead baby — a bacterial infection turned septic and initiated a fatal cascade of symptoms associated with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation.
It is Operation Rescue’s opinion, based the facts found in the autopsy report, that the UNM cause of death determination is simply not the truth.
The abortion facilities involved in patient deaths first try to conceal the fact that a patient died. If that doesn’t work, the abortion businesses immediately attempt to deny any culpability for their patient’s death.
What is the easiest way to do that? Whitewash the truth by blaming the woman and/or her pregnancy.
The leftist mainstream media is usually a willing co-conspirator in the cover up, and the response to the Atkins death was no exception.
Once Operation Rescue and Abortion Free New Mexico announced Atkin’s death and released the autopsy report – a public record — the Albuquerque Journal jumped all over it, declaring in their headlines, “Autopsy rules out abortion as cause of death.”
The newspaper cited the opinion of the UNM Office of the Medical Investigator that it was Atkins’ pregnancy that killed her, not the four-day late-term abortion process that Operation Rescue believes was mismanaged her eighty-year old abortionist, Curtis Boyd, and fumbled by UNM hospital where she died.
UNM’s own autopsy report described in detail compelling evidence that it was complications from the abortion process that killed Keisha Atkins – not her pregnancy.
There can be no doubt that if Keisha Atkins had not endured the process of a four-day late-term abortion, she would be alive today.
So why the attempt to obfuscate the true cause of death?
UNM and Southwestern Women’s Options are partners in the trade in aborted baby remains. SWO is the sole supplier of aborted baby tissue and organs to UNM. Both are under criminal investigation by the Attorney General’s office based on a complaint filed by Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico and criminal referrals issued by the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives.
This gives them UNM and SWO motive to nefariously ascribe the death of Keisha Atkins to her pregnancy in order to prevent another abortion-related scandal in the middle of a criminal investigation into their alleged participation in the illegal baby body parts trade.
This may also be why there was no notation of the weight of the dismembered remains of Atkins’ baby in the autopsy report. While the baby’s remains were present during the autopsy, revealing the weight might also reveal the truth about how far along Atkins’ pregnancy really was.
On a side note, some have expressed misplaced concern that the autopsy report was made public, and that its release may have compromised Atkins’ privacy, or more absurdly, her legal rights as a dead person. In reality, there is no legal issue with making a public document available to the public.
In fact, its release is actually a public service. The people have a right to know what is going on at SWO and UNM, especially because they are both recipients of public funds. They have a right to know that not everything is as it appears in the left-wing Albuquerque Journal.
When abortion is involved, concealing the truth that seeps through in these public documents only serves to aid the abortionists and their associates, who are desperately trying to diffuse any controversy around Atkins death.
Tara Shaver’s anonymous tipster apparently had a sense that something was very wrong in the way Keisha Atkins’ death occurred and how it was handled after the fact. And that person’s instincts were right.
If this information can prevent others from suffering Atkins’ fate, it is morally imperative to make sure the public – as well as the authorities investigating UNM and SWO — knows about it.
Operation Rescue urges the New Mexico Medical Board and the Attorney General’s office to aggressively investigate Keisha Atkins’ death, and bring those responsible for it and its cover-up to justice.
Keisha Maria Atkins, 23, died on February 4, 2017 — four days into a late-term abortion process at Southwestern Women’s Options abortion facility in Albuquerque, NM.
Report by Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President of Operation Rescue
Albuquerque, NM – A woman has died as the result of a late-term abortion process initiated at Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO), in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is the largest abortion facility in the U.S. that openly specializes in abortions throughout all nine months of pregnancy.
Abortion Free New Mexico obtained the autopsy report for Keisha Marie Atkins, 23, who died on February 4, 2017, after being transported from SWO to UNM Hospital. Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico has also been in communication with members of Atkins’ family.
Operation Rescue is assisting Abortion Free New Mexico with an investigation of this tragedy.
This abortion-related death is particularly troubling in light of a criminal investigation that is currently underway by the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office into Southwestern Women’s Options and UNM. UNM has aggressively worked to increase second and third trimester abortions at SWO, which, in turn, is UNM’s largest provider of aborted baby tissue and organs. A U.S. House investigation found this arrangement violates state and federal law, despite stonewalling and obfuscation on the part of UNM and SWO.
Atkins reported to SWO on January 31, 2017, for a four day late-term abortion procedure that was to be done by eighty-year old abortion facility owner Curtis Boyd. It is believed that Atkins was six months pregnant or more.
Four days later, on February 3, 2017, Atkins returned to SWO for the completion of the abortion where she displayed labored breathing and signs of sepsis, a systemic, life-threatening infection.
At 12:04 p.m. on February 3, an ambulance was called to transport Atkins to the hospital, but was later cancelled, raising questions of how and when Atkins actually received emergency medical help.
Once at the UNM Medical Center, Atkins’ condition deteriorated rapidly, prompting UNM staff to perform an emergency D&E abortion procedure to remove her baby through dismemberment.
During the procedure, Atkins suffered cardiac arrest. Efforts to revive her were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced dead at 12:10 a.m. on February 4, 2017.
An autopsy was conducted at the UNM Health Sciences Center by the UNM Office of the Medical Investigator, which also serves as the Bernadillo County Coroner. The OMI determined that Atkins cause of death was “pulmonary thromboembolism due to pregnancy,” in other words, blood clots in the lungs.
However, a careful review of the autopsy findings indicates that this cause of death is a whitewash meant to blame Atkins’ pregnancy for her death instead of what appears to be a mismanaged late-term abortion procedure.
“UNM is a biased promoter of abortion that is attempting to shift blame onto Atkins’ pregnancy, instead of the abortion, where the blame rightfully belongs,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “Keisha Atkins and her family deserve the truth, not a cover-up. But with UNM and SWO, covering up their misdeeds has become standard operating procedure.”
There is evidence that Atkins suffered from sepsis, a bacterial infection caused by the four-day abortion process, which brought about symptoms consistent with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC). Atkins suffered hemorrhaging in her brain, a buildup of fluid around her lungs, and other symptoms of DIC that the autopsy ignored.
Pro-life leaders believe there is a way to keep other women from suffering Atkins’ fate.
“We call on the New Mexico Attorney General to step up their criminal investigation, and we call on the State Medical Board to take a hard, honest look at Keisha Atkins’ death,” Newman said. “Curtis Boyd should be stopped from practicing, and the dangerous Southwestern Women’s Options should be shut down for good.”
“Coverups are as heinous as the crimes, and the crimes of the abortion cartel in New Mexico have been covered up for too many years. It is time for Hector Balderas to do his job or resign. It is time for the UNM Regents to do their jobs or resign. It is time for the New Mexico Medical Board to fully investigate Keisha’s death without bias,” said Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, The Protest Priest.
“We join the family of Keisha Atkins as they grieve her death from serious complications during a late term abortion at Southwestern Women’s Options. She was a 23-year old vibrant woman with her whole life ahead of her that was tragically cut short,” stated Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico. “For years we have worked to expose the barbaric nature of late term abortion in New Mexico and sought to bring accountability to the unregulated and unaccountable Abortion Cartel. Now more than ever, we need leadership in our city and state to take a bold stand and the necessary steps to prevent the needless deaths of women and their children through late term abortion.”
Albuquerque, NM- Abortion Free New Mexico and Priests for Life have released a new video taken from an undercover phone call placed to Southwestern Women’s Options late term abortion facility that clearly explains how second and third trimester abortions are performed in New Mexico.
A healthy woman posing as 25 weeks pregnant is given an overview by an abortion worker detailing how the 3-4 day labor and delivery procedure will take place. Late term abortion is a grueling process that begins every Tuesday, in Albuquerque, with the killing of a baby by a lethal injection of the medication digoxin and culminates at the end of the week when labor is induced and she delivers a stillborn child. Pre-born babies can survive outside the womb at this gestation, and sometimes earlier in the pregnancy.
In a recent rare interview, Curtis Boyd, owner of Southwestern Women’s Options claims that he provides abortions to women “who are dying if they do not get the abortion, women who have severe congenital defects.” However, if a woman was truly dying she would never subject herself to a 3-4 day abortion procedure. She would go to a hospital where if it were absolutely necessary to end the pregnancy, the pre-born child would be removed from her womb (alive) via a Caesarean section.
In fact, a previous undercover recording Abortion Free New Mexico and Priests for Life released demonstrated that Southwestern Women’s Options screens their patients for health indicators to ensure that the woman is healthy enough for a late term procedure.It would be medical negligence to perform a lengthy abortion procedure on a woman whose life is truly at risk.
Curtis Boyd and his staff at Southwestern Women’s Options are actually the ones placing the lives of women at risk by performing dangerous late term abortions. In fact, a Southwestern Women’s Options consent form obtained by Abortion Free New Mexico’s Tara Shaver in 2012 states that abortions done after 18 weeks are more dangerous than carrying the baby to full term.
Another video released by Abortion Free New Mexico and Priests for Life exposed that Southwestern Women’s Options isn’t in the habit of performing late term abortions to save the lives of women as Curtis Boyd claims, but is instead operating under an archaic eugenic mindset that empowers their abortionists to willingly abort pre-born babies who are found to have “congenital defects” otherwise known as birth defects. Killing babies who are handicapped is at the heart of Curtis Boyd’s late term abortion business.
“Southwestern Women’s Options uses an injection to stop the hearts of pre-born babies and a concoction of several medications to artificially induce labor in women and then sends them away to wait for their child to be born dead. This precarious cocktail of medications is and has resulted in serious life threatening complications. In May 2011 a patient at Southwestern Women’s Options was rushed to the emergency room after her uterus ruptured during the very same procedure documented in this call. She was 35 weeks pregnant,” Tara Shaver said. “Late-term abortions are not, as some say, ‘only done to save the lives of women,’ they are performed to make Curtis Boyd huge profits at the expense of precious human lives.
In this call a $8,500 fee is quoted for an abortion at 25 weeks of pregnancy. A Manta.com search of Curtis Boyd in Albuquerque shows that his abortion business has an “annual revenue of $1 to $2.5 million.”
“Americans continue, in large majorities, to reject late term abortion,” said Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life. “We will continue to expose it by undercover phone calls, so that the existence of these procedures, and their utter barbarity, will be indisputable in the minds and hearts of more and more of our fellow citizens, and that they will take action to end abortion.”
Abortion Free New Mexico is working with Priests for Life to raise national awareness about late term abortion and have released eight undercover recordings:
Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
Albuquerque, NM- A new undercover recording released by Abortion Free New Mexico and Priests for Life exposes an unholy alliance between Southwestern Women’s Options late term abortion mill and local clergy. The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is the organization that is responsible for facilitating contact between clergy and abortion patients.
In this latest recording, an undercover caller states that she is 29 weeks pregnant with a baby that has a fetal anomaly. She exhibits being a little apprehensive about the late term abortion due to her Catholic faith, but is reassured by clinic staff, “believe it or not“ there is a priest that will come to the clinic before, after and even during her procedure.
The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is deceptively using religion to justify and promote abortion (the act of killing another human being) and recently they have published a list of over 70 local clergy that are being used to ease the consciences of women seeking late term abortions. This list includes well known liberal denominations like Unitarian Universalists and also pseudo-Catholic parishes that are not recognized by the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.
“These are false prophets,” said Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life and President of the National Pro-life Religious Council, which commissioned a book about the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. “Any religion that justifies the killing of a baby is not a religion worthy of belief. Those who pretend it is are using the Lord’s name in vain.”
Curtis Boyd, the owner of Southwestern Women’s Options, has been vocal in the past about his religious background as an ordained Baptist minister and has confessed to praying over the children he readily admits that he knows he’s killing, “I’ll ask that the spirit of this pregnancy be returned to God with love, with understanding.”
Early on when Boyd betrayed true medicine and started providing abortions he knew then that having clergy behind him was important. He still sees the value in this today and is greatly benefiting from his collaboration with the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Boyd has conspired with the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to, “meet whatever religious criteria” these women need to keep them in the clinic and ensure that they follow through with lucrative late term abortions.The abortion clinic staff even admits that, “We don’t know how we’d do [late term abortions] without them.” At 29 weeks of pregnancy SWO charges $11,500 and an additional $1,000 each week after that.
“It seems to be the trend now in the pro-abortion community to try and harness a religious undertone to justify abortion and use misguided clergy to reassure women in their decision to kill their children,” said Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico. “It used to be that signs reading, ‘Keep your rosaries off my ovaries’ were a common theme to separate religion and abortion, but now late term abortionists are dependent upon groups like the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice to accommodate abortion patients and give them a false sense of hope that they are making the right decision, when they in fact are not. Clergy who participate in abortion are complicit in the deaths of these children. These are not true of leaders of the faith, but they have denied the truth and are leading others astray.”
No Gestational Limits
Many in this country do not want to believe that abortions are done up to the day of birth, however, in her own words, abortion clinic worker Susan Duda tells the undercover caller that “There are no gestational limits for aborting babies with fetal anomalies,” which means that they will provide an abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
Duda even sympathisizes with the caller who says she doesn’t want to think about having to deal with raising a disabled child by stating, “That’s a lifetime of commitment.”
Having children is a lifetime commitment but it’s better than living with a lifetime of regret or worse. Operation Rescue reported that a Kansas woman committed suicide last month on the very same day that she had her abortion.
Abortion Free New Mexico is working with Priests for Life to raise national awareness about late term abortion and have released eight undercover recordings:
Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
Albuquerque, NM- Abortion Free New Mexico and Priests for Life have compiled another video in their ongoing series to expose late term abortion in America. This latest undercover recording exposes how the late term abortion facility Southwestern Women’s Options arbitrarily differentiates between a baby and biohazard waste when discussing the disposal of the remains of the babies terminated at their facility.
New Mexico is the land of unrestricted abortion, there are no limitations on how late abortions can be performed. In addition, there is no fixed standard of determining which babies live or die, there are no abortion clinic safety standards and now Southwestern Women’s Options late term abortion facility has been found making a bizarre distinction between babies who are healthy and those with a fetal anomaly. This latest recording begs the question as to what the result of an abortion is, a dead baby or biohazard waste? …and who decides?
Southwestern Women’s Options tells a woman posing as 33 weeks pregnant, that they have a working relationship with Riverside Funeral Home, which will come to the abortion facility and collect the baby remains for cremation after the abortion. Staffers at both the funeral home and the abortion facility refer to the dead unborn children as “babies.”
However, the option to cremate the remains only applies to disabled babies. When another woman, 25 weeks pregnant, inquires about what happens to her healthy baby after her abortion, she is told that the remains are considered biohazard waste and that the whole baby is incinerated.
Cremation: the disposal of a dead person’s body by burning it to ashes.
Incineration: the destruction of something, especially waste material, by burning.
“To think that Southwestern Women’s Options is pitching cremation to women seeking late-term abortions in order to somehow buffer killing disabled babies while the other babies are incinerated as biohazard waste is schizophrenic,” said Tara Shaver of Abortion Free New Mexico. “Cremation, by definition, refers to what is done to a dead person’s body. It’s imperative that we, our leaders and every sane person speak out and act on behalf of these human babies who are being brutally killed each day in New Mexico.”
According to a quote attributed to Nazi propagandists during a regime that killed over 12 million people, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
For more than 44 years in America, abortion profiteers and their supporters in politics and the media have insisted that abortion does not kill babies. This has resulted in over 60 million lives being terminated in American abortion businesses.
But as the abortionists themselves at Southwestern Women’s Options admit, they are killing babies even in the latest stages of pregnancy.
“Anyone with a conscience will be horrified by these recordings,” added Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life. “They speak of fingerprints, toe-prints, baby clothes, photos, and funeral homes. These are things associated with human beings, and children who — once they’re born — we all agree should be protected. What is revealed here is an ongoing prejudice, discrimination, and oppression towards the children in the womb, and it must end.”
Listen to notorious late term abortionist and owner of Southwestern Women’s Options, Curtis Boyd’s, candid admission with reporters:
Abortion Free New Mexico is working with Priests for Life to raise national awareness about late term abortion and have released eight undercover recordings:
Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
Albuquerque, NM- In part 4 of a 6 part series documenting the New Mexico Abortion Cartel, Abortion Free New Mexico (AFNM) takes a look at Southwestern Women’s Options (SWO), the nations largest late term abortion facility.
Southwestern Women’s Options advertises on it’s website, “Elective Abortions through 28 weeks… Later Abortion for Maternal and Fetal Indications.”
(Screenshot from SWO website)
Previous reports by AFNM have revealed that SWO is drawing women from all across the world for barbaric full term abortions, thus making Albuquerque known nationally as the Late Term Abortion Capital.
This report pulls back the curtain on the abortion cartel in New Mexico that is self regulating with arbitrary standards because of the absence of any common sense legislation which would provide oversight and accountability that is so desperately needed.
The latest undercover recording released by Abortion Free New Mexico and Priests for Life reveals just how arbitrary the standard is for determining which baby lives or dies at Southwestern Women’s Options.
Listen to the undercover recording here.
Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life issued the following statement,
“Once again, this undercover call reveals that abortions are taking place legally in our country even in the third trimester of pregnancy. We will continue to expose this evil in the weeks and months to come. We call on all Americans, including those who identify themselves as “prochoice,” to communicate to their legislators their opposition to these late term procedures, so that we can begin restoring protection to these children.”
In the first call to Southwestern, a caller posed as a woman who was pregnant with a baby who had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. Without hesitation she was given an abortion appointment, despite being 33 weeks pregnant.
In a second call, an undercover caller posed as a healthy woman pregnant with a 30-week healthy pre-born baby whom she has decided to abort because her husband lost his job.
The third calling, a minor posing as the victim of incest by an older family member is seeking a late-term abortion at 26 weeks of pregnancy. Instead of urging the sexual assault victim to contact the authorities – as required by law — the abortion clinic staff gives the young girl a phone number to the New Mexico Medicaid office so that she can obtain the $7,500 procedure for free.
The fourth call combines two earlier calls and adds new details, including that mothers so far advanced in their pregnancies should not be aborted in stand-alone clinics like Southwestern – although they are – and that the availability of third-trimester abortions depends on the “comfort” level of the abortionist.
“The bottom line is that SWO is willing to terminate a disabled child in spite of their own admission that late- term abortions shouldn’t be done in an outpatient clinic because they pose significant risks to mothers,” said Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.
“The ‘comfort’ zone of the abortionists at Southwestern Women’s Options, which appear to be based on an arbitrary eugenic standard, have ultimately led them to decide which babies should live or die. Barbaric late- term abortions are rejected by the majority of the American people because viable babies are being killed, and in our latest undercover recording, the abortion workers themselves admit that late-term abortions shouldn’t be performed because they are too dangerous for the women seeking them. New Mexico abortion facilities need oversight and accountability that comes from common-sense regulations,” Mrs. Shaver said.
Since 2010, Tara Shaver of AFNM with the help of Operation Rescue has documented at least 17 abortion related injuries inflicted upon women at Southwestern Women’s Options. At least one of these horrific injuries was the result of a late term abortion performed by abortionist Shelley Sella at 35 weeks of pregnancy. The pregnant woman from New York came to Albuquerque to have her baby killed because of a diagnosed fetal anomaly. Sella ignored the risks and committed four acts of gross negligence during the abortion that caused a ruptured uterus and required medical transport to a nearby hospital.
“The ‘comfort’ zone of the abortionists at Southwestern Women’s Options, that appear to be based on an arbitrary eugenic standard, have ultimately led them to decide which babies should live or die. Barbaric late term abortions are rejected by the majority of the American people because viable babies are being killed, and in our latest undercover recording, the abortion workers themselves admit that late term abortions shouldn’t be performed because they are too dangerous for the women seeking them. New Mexico abortion facilities need oversight and accountability that comes from common sense regulations,” said Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.
Facts Uncovered about Southwestern Women’s Options since 2010
Southwestern Women’s Option is drawing women from all across the country and the world for late-term abortions making Albuquerque, New Mexico known as the Late Term Abortion Capital.
Abortions have been performed at Southwestern Women’s Options up to 35 weeks gestation. Beyond 28 weeks of pregnancy terminations are arbitrarily decided on a “case by case basis.”
New Mexico law [NM Stat § 30-5-1] criminalizes the practice of late term abortions that are performed outside of hospitals. However, this law is not being enforced, leaving women to suffer at the hands of unregulated abortionists at Southwestern Women’s Options.
Every Tuesday late term abortions are started at Southwestern Women’s Options and take 3-4 days to complete.
Abortionist Curtis Boyd owns and runs Southwestern Women’s Options located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Current abortionists at Southwestern Women’s Options are Shelley Sella, who resides in California and Carmen Landau, who lives in Albuquerque.
Shelley Sella has a Notice of Contemplated Action on her New Mexico medical license for the botched 35 week abortion she performed in 2011. Tara Shaver and Operation Rescue filed the complaint which prompted the New Mexico Medical Board investigation.
Southwestern Women’s Options is the sole provider of fetal remains to the University of New Mexico.
Southwestern Women’s Options is currently under investigation by the New Mexico Attorney General prompted by a complaint filed in July 2015 by Tara Shaver on the basis of potential violations of two state statutes regarding the illegal use of aborted fetal remains for medical research at the University of New Mexico.
UPDATED: Reports released by Abortion Free New Mexico in a 6 Part Series exposing the New Mexico Abortion Cartel:
UPDATED: Abortion Free New Mexico is working with Priests for Life to raise national awareness about late term abortion and have released 19 undercover recordings:
Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
Albuquerque, NM- In January of 2015 a 20 year old woman from Great Britain sought a destination willing to perform an abortion for her at 30 weeks of pregnancy… so that she could continue going to college. Did she have to go to Vietnam, China, or North Korea? No, she traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to have her baby killed.
Why didn’t she have her late-term abortion in Great Britain? Because the international community has rightfully rejected barbaric late term abortions. Only 7 nations including China, North Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Canada, Netherlands and the United States of America still allow them.
Most Americans refuse to accept the assertion that late term abortions are performed here. Interestingly, late-term abortion is overwhelmingly rejected by 80% of American women! Even a majority of the “pro-choice” community is uneasy declaring their support for such a barbaric procedure.
Unfortunately, the majority opinion hasn’t translated into public policy…
Albuquerque, New Mexico is home to the nation’s largest late term abortion killing center, Southwestern Women’s Options and is considered the late term abortion capital of America, actually of the world. Late term abortions occur so regularly at Southwestern Women’s Options that late term abortionist Susan Robinson, who recently retired from SWO emphatically stated in an interview in 2014,
[Women] come from all over the United States and Canada and all over the world too; I mean you have patients who come to us from Europe, we have patients from Australia, we have patients from Afghanistan[.]
But don’t just take our word for it that late term abortions actually occur here or even the word of a former late term abortionist…
Listen to our latest undercover video for yourself:Exposed: 33 Week Late Term Abortion In New Mexico
“Americans must wake up and realize that bottom of the barrel states like New Mexico still allow late term abortions without restriction. This, in addition to the fact that through New Mexico Medicaid tax payers are funding these unconscionable procedures that at 33 weeks of pregnancy cost $15,500 should be enough for reasonable people to be pro-active in bringing late term abortions to an end. Late term abortions are a grisly trade and America must join the rest of civilized society and reject this inhumane treatment of pre-born babies,” stated Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.
Abortion Free New Mexico is working with Priests for Life to raise national awareness about late term abortion and have released eight undercover recordings:
Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.
(Felicia and healthy baby Jonah!)
