TEXAS — Texas’ near-total ban on abortion has provided its immediate neighbor to the west with an opportunity. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has launched a campaign to lure the Lone Star State’s medical professionals away.
Called “Free to Provide,” the campaign includes billboards and full-page ads in five major Texas newspapers. According to Lujan Grisham, the campaign highlights “New Mexico’s commitment to protecting the full spectrum of health care, including abortion access.”
Six billboards were placed around Houston Medical Center in July. The full-page ads appeared in the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Austin American-Statesman and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Like most states, New Mexico is short of health care providers, and we're looking to, you know, to every, every lever we can pull to try to identify more providers to serve the needs of our citizens. We think states like Texas have provided us a great opportunity by creating a legal and political environment that, for some providers, creates some real uncertainty and doubt and maybe even some fear," said Patrick Allen, secretary of New Mexico's Department of Health.
Texas medical professionals work under one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans. A Texas medical panel in June approved guidance for doctors but refused to list specific exceptions to the law, which doctors have complained is dangerously unclear.
The decision by the Texas Medical Board came less than a month after the state Supreme Court upheld the law that had been challenged by doctors and a group of women who argued it stopped them from getting medical care even when their pregnancies became dangerous.
The same panel in March rebuffed calls to list specific exemptions, and the head of the board said doing so would have been beyond state law and the board’s authority.
In a statement to Spectrum News, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris. said: "People and businesses vote with their feet, and continually they are choosing to move to Texas more than any other state in the country. Governor Lujan Grisham should focus on her state's rapidly declining population instead of political stunts."
“I know that legal restrictions on healthcare in Texas have created a heavy burden for medical practitioners––especially those of you now barred by law from providing the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare,” Lujan Grisham wrote in the full-page ad. “It must be distressing that a draconian abortion ban has restricted your right to practice and turned it into a political weapon.”
Texas law prohibits abortions unless a pregnant patient has a life-threatening condition. A doctor convicted of providing an illegal abortion in Texas can face up to 99 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and lose their medical license.
“We already have a shortage of doctors already. We have half of the counties in this state are considered maternal health care deserts. You know, this is, this is definitely something we were predicting, and unfortunately, we're seeing it come to pass," said Texas state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin.
“I certainly respect those of you who remain committed to caring for patients in Texas, but I also invite those of you who can no longer tolerate these restrictions to consider practicing next door in New Mexico. We’re fiercely committed to protecting medical freedoms here and we’re taking steps to ensure that what happened in Texas never happens in New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham wrote.
Lujan Grisham said the Texas effort is part of a broader initiative to attract and keep top medical talent in her state.