ACLJ Files Legal Records Request Targeting Late-Term Abortion Practices in New Mexico

At the ACLJ, we are unwavering in our commitment to defending life. That’s why we just launched a new investigation into four New Mexico abortion facilities that perform abortions past 23 weeks of gestation. Such late-term abortions raise grave moral, medical, and legal concerns.

New Mexico has no restrictions on abortion – it is available on demand up until birth. Further, New Mexico remains one of the few states in America that does not have a Born-Alive Infant Protection law. Such a law would ensure that if a child survives an abortion attempt, that child is recognized as a living human being under the law and must receive immediate lifesaving medical care. In the absence of this basic protection, the state’s permissiveness on late-term abortion raises deeply troubling questions about whether infants born alive during abortion procedures are being left to die – or worse.

A New Late-Term Abortion Facility Raises Alarm

Further underscoring the urgency of our work is the recent opening of a new late-term abortion facility in Albuquerque – Valley Abortion Group (VAG) – which openly performs abortions throughout all three trimesters, up to the day of birth. This marks the sixth abortion center in the city, and it is operated under a radical ideological banner that promotes abortion as its sole service. No prenatal care, counseling, or adoption services are offered – only abortion. This facility is not an outlier, but rather the latest example of an unregulated and ideologically driven abortion industry operating with little accountability.

This facility charges as much as $17,500 for abortions as late as 32 weeks and utilizes controversial procedures like the M.O.L.D. induction method – a multiday abortion protocol in which a lethal dose of heart medication is injected into the baby’s heart or into the amniotic fluid, ending in the delivery of a stillborn child. Even more troubling, New Mexico taxpayers fund these procedures through Medicaid, as the state is one of 17 states that subsidize abortion on demand.

The ACLJ Is Taking Action

In response, we filed an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) request with the New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Medical Board. Our objective is clear: to uncover whether these facilities are complying with the state’s reporting laws and to expose practices that may be violating the law or placing women and viable preborn children at risk.

We have formally requested the following five categories of records:

1. All records – including emails – submitted to the CDC for inclusion in the National Vital Statistics System that relate to induced abortions reported under NM Stat. § 24-14-18.
2. All institutional records submitted to the state registrar by those responsible for facilities where abortions were performed.
3. All records submitted by attending physicians when abortions were performed outside institutional settings.
4. All records referencing the survival of a fetus or newborn following abortion procedures or attempted terminations.
5. All records of abortions performed after 24 weeks of gestation, or which include references to “partial-birth” procedures.

Next Steps: Holding Government Accountable

New Mexico law requires a response to IPRA requests within 15 calendar days. If the New Mexico Department of Health or the Medical Board fails to comply, we are prepared to take legal action.

The ACLJ will not stand by while the most vulnerable among us – preborn children – are subjected to inhumane procedures behind closed doors. We will continue to demand transparency, uphold the rule of law, and advocate for protections that recognize the sanctity of every human life.