STERLING, Va. — Stumping for the Harris-Walz ticket in Virginia on Monday, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said that her state is running a de facto “Underground Railroad” for abortion services since the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Democratic pol said that 75% of abortion services performed in New Mexico are on out-of-state patients, and described the situation in her state as an “underground operation.”
“We literally now have an underground operation, not unlike something we’re all familiar with, the Underground Railroad, to try to make sure that we get to women and their families early,” the gov told the crowd of about 30 at the Northern Virginia Democrat Headquarters.
She also shared the grim reality of many patients who traverse New Mexico’s “underground railroad,” adding: “Sometimes if we save their lives, we’ve also ruined any opportunity for them to have a child of their own when they’re ready to have a child of their own.”
Still, she says her state is a “bastion for safe, fair reproductive access around the country.”
Lujan Grisham also shared that her state has put up billboards in Texas — where 71% of the New Mexico’s out-of-state abortion patients come from — to recruit more doctors from their neighbor to the east to practice medicine in New Mexico.
“If you’re a health care practitioner, why would you practice here if you’re sworn to protect the lives of your patients? If you want no interference, come to New Mexico,” the gov said.
Alicia McFadden, a 44-year-old mother of two was in attendance Monday, and told The Post she showed up because of her passion for supporting reproductive rights.
“My baby is an IVF baby, and we’ve seen. I’m from Alabama, so I’ve seen very first-hand people who do not have access and have their access to IVF limited. So I’m very passionate about IVF and paying for IVF. Luckily, we could afford IVF, not easily, but we could afford it, but there are a lot of people that can’t afford IVF, especially in Virginia.”
Asked about Trump’s recent endorsement of IVF practices, especially noting that the treatments would be free under a second Trump term, McFadden said she “that’s not true, I don’t believe it.”
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“Reproductive rights, abortion and IVF is right there together. Many times you have embryos that you transfer, and for whatever reason that you may not take, they may take, but then there’s some issue, and you need to have access to abortion.” McFadden told The Post. “So you can’t have one without the other.”
Abortion was a major topic of discussion in Tuesday’s presidential debate, in which the candidates sparred over the hot-button election issue.
Former President Trump reiterated that he believes in abortion exceptions in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother, and applauded the overturn of Roe v. Wade for returning the policy decisions to the states and their voters.
Vice President Kamala Harris claimed that Trump would sign a federal abortion ban into law, which Trump disputed as a lie. The veep would not answer whether she’d back any restrictions on abortion access, even in the eighth or ninth month of pregnancy, when pressed by both the moderator and Donald Trump.
