AFNM: Calls for “Unity” Cannot Replace Accountability as Abortion Clinics Remain Exempt from Healthcare Standards

By Bud Shaver,

​Santa Fe, New Mexico —As Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham continues to emphasize medical malpractice reform as part of her administration’s legacy and calls for political “unity,” Abortion Free New Mexico (AFNM) is calling attention to a critical contradiction that remains unaddressed: abortion clinics in New Mexico continue to operate exempt from basic healthcare licensing, inspection, and enforcement standards, despite documented patient harm.

Recent reporting by The New Mexico Sun has highlighted the administration’s emphasis on malpractice reform as a policy priority. AFNM notes that this focus on liability reform stands in sharp contrast to state policies that shield abortion facilities from the routine oversight applied to hospitals, surgical centers, and physician practices throughout New Mexico.

AFNM’s source-documented report details more than a decade of abortion-related patient injuries, emergency medical transports, and at least one patient death occurring in facilities not licensed as healthcare providers. These documented incidents raise serious questions about patient safety, regulatory consistency, and the credibility of claims that abortion is being treated as healthcare under state law.

AFNM emphasized that its call for accountability concerns regulatory standards and patient safety — not the legality of abortion. The organization is calling for the consistent application of healthcare licensing, inspection, and enforcement requirements that apply to other medical facilities in New Mexico.

Unlike hospitals, surgical centers, and physician practices, abortion clinics in New Mexico are not subject to routine facility inspections, licensing requirements, or transparent enforcement mechanisms — even as the state positions itself as a destination for abortion services.

(Graphic illustrating the exemption of abortion clinics from routine healthcare licensing and inspection requirements in New Mexico.)

“Since abortion is repeatedly described as ‘healthcare,’ it must be subject to healthcare standards,” said Tara Shaver, spokeswoman for Abortion Free New Mexico.
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“Healthcare requires standards, inspections, and accountability — and it does not maim or kill. Abortion fulfills none of those requirements in New Mexico, yet it is repeatedly labeled ‘healthcare’ while being exempt from the rules that govern real medicine.”

​Shaver added that calls for political unity cannot be used to obscure documented regulatory failures.

“Calls for unity ring hollow when they are used to protect a political legacy while documented harm goes unaddressed,” she said.
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“The public record shows that exempting abortion clinics from basic healthcare standards has resulted in patient injuries and a death. Accountability cannot be set aside for political convenience.”

AFNM emphasized that the issue is not theoretical, partisan, or speculative. As New Mexico increasingly positions itself as a regional destination for abortion services, patient volume has increased without corresponding oversight or enforcement — deepening the regulatory gap.

AFNM also noted that bipartisan silence on the issue has allowed the contradiction to persist.

“Lawmakers are not powerless here,” Shaver added.
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“When Republicans and Democrats alike avoid confronting this exemption, they help entrench a double standard that no patient would tolerate in any other area of medicine. Silence does not equal unity—it entrenches regulatory failure.”

​AFNM stressed that malpractice reform, if pursued without addressing oversight exemptions, risks insulating systems from accountability rather than improving patient safety. The organization argues that meaningful reform must include consistent standards across all areas of healthcare, especially where documented harm has occurred.

Abortion Free New Mexico is calling on the Governor and the New Mexico Legislature to publicly explain:

• Why abortion clinics remain exempt from healthcare licensing and routine inspections
• How abortion-related patient injuries and deaths are investigated
• What accountability mechanisms exist when patient harm occurs

“Exemptions are not unity. Silence is not reform,” Shaver said.

📄 Read AFNM’s source-documented report:
​GOVERNOR TIES LEGACY TO MALPRACTICE REFORM WHILE STATE SHIELDS ABORTION CLINICS FROM ACCOUNTABILITY

📰 Related media coverage:
The New Mexico Sun — Governor’s malpractice reform goals clash with state policies on abortion clinic oversight

​📘 Additional public-record information on abortion risks!