ALBUQUERQUE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday met with reproductive health care providers to hear firsthand about their work delivering comprehensive reproductive health care to New Mexicans.

The governor and providers discussed recruiting and training health care staff, investing in provider training, provider reimbursement, and the importance of the actions the governor has taken to safeguard abortion access and protect abortion providers in New Mexico.

“As more states move to restrict and prohibit access to abortion and reproductive care, New Mexico will continue to not only protect access, but to expand and strengthen reproductive health care throughout the state,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. “The dedicated providers across New Mexico deserve to be supported by their state government. With the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship, we are growing our own nurses and doctors and medical staff, and we will continue to look at ways to fund debt-free physician education to ensure that every New Mexican has access to a provider when they need care.”

The governor has taken unprecedented steps to protect access to a full spectrum of reproductive health care in New Mexico, including enacting legislation repealing an antiquated state law that would have criminalized abortion providers upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Following the Supreme Court opinion ending nationwide protections for abortion access, the governor signed an executive order further safeguarding access to reproductive health care by protecting abortion providers in New Mexico, making it clear that New Mexico will not cooperate with extradition attempts from other states that choose to enforce draconian laws and attempt to prosecute patients or providers.

In August, Gov. Lujan Grisham signed an additional executive order further expanding access to reproductive health care in the state of New Mexico by designating $10 million of the governor’s capital outlay funds for the development of a reproductive health care clinic in Doña Ana County. The clinic will be aimed at fortifying and expanding New Mexicans’ access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including regular preventative care, family planning, prenatal care, labor and delivery, postpartum care and support, lactation counseling and support, abortion, and appropriate medical management of miscarriage and pregnancy loss.

Additionally, Gov. Lujan Grisham has expanded cost-free access to contraception and invested in expanded access to Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC). Under the governor’s leadership New Mexico is leading the country in reproductive health policy implementation in the Medicaid arena, with the state’s Medicaid population having seen a marked decrease in teen births.