Large Texas abortion provider will relocate to New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One of the largest abortion providers in Texas is planning to move its operations to New Mexico and another provider that offers tele-health services related to abortion and reproductive health care is expanding its footprint in the state.

Austin-based Whole Woman’s Health began winding down its Texas operations after a ruling Friday by the Texas Supreme Court forced an end to abortions in that state. Now, the provider wants to establish a new clinic in a New Mexico city near the state line to provide first and second trimester abortions.

Home to a Democratic-led legislature and governor, New Mexico recently took an extra step to protect providers and patients from out-of-state prosecutions. It’s likely to continue to experience a steady influx of people seeking abortions from neighboring states with more restrictive abortion laws.

Whole Woman’s Health has started a fundraising effort to help with the costs of moving equipment and supplies from Texas to New Mexico and for the purchase of a building to serve as its new home.

“With the shuttering of our four Texas clinics, we do not have the financial reserves to open in New Mexico without community support,” Amy Hagstrom Miller, president and CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, said in a statement.

Officials with Mississippi’s only abortion clinic also have plans to relocate to southern New Mexico and the tele-health provider Choix, based in San Francisco, announced Wednesday that it is now licensed to operate in New Mexico and plans to serve all states where abortion care remains legal by the end of 2023.

New Mexico lawmakers last year repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures as felonies, thus ensuring access to abortion even after the federal court rolled back guarantees.

The state’s largest city, Albuquerque, is home to one of only a few independent clinics in the country that perform abortions in the third trimester without conditions.

An abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, is just a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the state line with Texas near El Paso.