New Mexico Gov. advances legislation ensuring right to abortion is 'constitutionally protected'

New Mexico Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation this week that will effectively overrule the state's local attempts to ban abortion, HuffPost reports.

Per New Mexico's KOB 4 News, pro-choice advocates across the southwestern state are rejoicing after "the House secured final passage" of the legislation "in a 38-30 vote with Republicans and some Democrats in opposition."

Nearly two years go, according to HuffPost, the state's majority Democratic legislature "passed a measure to repeal a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures," solidifying "access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year."

READ MORE: 'Made the right decision': North Dakota Supreme Court allows abortion services to proceed

HuffPost reports:

New Mexico has one of the country's most liberal abortion access laws, but two counties and three cities in eastern New Mexico have recently adopted abortion restrictions that reflect deep-seated opposition to offering the procedure.

The bill signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham overrides those local ordinances.

According to KOB 4, members of the state's GOP "in the legislative minority raised a series of objections during a House floor debate" against the proposed legislation, which essentially seeks to "protect abortion providers and patients from out-of-state interference, prosecution or extradition attempts."

"We're broadening those protections to everyone who should be constitutionally protected to make their own decisions … in light of, right now, Republican attorneys general and others trying to restrict access to medication abortion," Lujan Grisham said, according to KOB 4. "New Mexico stood up for science, for women."

READ MORE: Women denied abortions sue Texas to affirm exceptions to the laws

HuffPost reports:

Separately, Democratic state Attorney General Raúl Torrez has urged the state Supreme Court to intervene against local abortion ordinances that he says violate state constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.

This comes a day after North Dakota's Supreme Court ordered "the continuation of state abortion services" which blocks "the state's proposed, restrictive abortion ban."

Both successes for pro-abortion activists come as Texas conservative Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk considers potentially banning medication abortion nationwide in the coming days.

READ MORE: Doctors warned her pregnancy could kill her — then Tennessee outlawed abortion

HuffPost's full report is available at this link. KOB 4 News' report is here.