BELEN, NM, April 27, 2023 — On Thursday, the Chair of the Democratic Party of Valencia County forcefully reacted to a Tuesday night vote by the Edgewood, NM Town Commission to block the distribution of abortion medication or supplies by mail, extending a wave of local municipalities attempting to impose restrictions on abortions in defiance of New Mexico state law.

Summer Ludwig said, “This shameless bit of performative posturing by the Edgewood Town Commission is meaningless insofar as it obviously contradicts state law. But it clearly illustrates how desperate New Mexico Republicans are to strip women of their most fundamental rights.”

Ludwig noted that legal experts have uniformly rejected Edgewood’s attempt to interject itself into a matter that is beyond its legitimate authority but warned that the ordinance still represents a danger to New Mexico women. “As a practical matter, this vote was farcical in its overreach and blatant disregard of state law,” Ludwig explained, “But instead of acknowledging that the Town Commission exceeded its authority, the Republican Party of New Mexico went out of its
way to applaud this shocking attack on women’s rights.”

In an April 26 email to its members, the Republican Party of New Mexico highlighted the Edgewood vote approvingly and embraced the Comstock Act, the 1873 law on which Edgewood based its ordinance.

“There is only one party in New Mexico that is committed to the preservation of women’s rights and the protection of their ability to make choices about healthcare in consultation with their doctors,” Ludwig said. “Valencia County Democrats are championing the rights of women throughout the state of New Mexico and will continue to fight for our mothers, daughters, and sisters for as long as it takes to ensure their access to the healthcare they need.”

Ludwig said that Valencia Democrats will be conducting local events to educate the community and to demonstrate the widespread support that reproductive choice enjoys in Valencia County. “This is a fight for the freedom of all women,” Ludwig said. “The Democratic Party of Valencia
County won’t stand by silently as reactionaries try to drag women’s rights back to 1873. We will stand shoulder to shoulder, not only with other Democrats but also with principled conservatives who understand how important it is to stop the kind of outrageous government intrusion that
Edgewood seeks to impose.”