This week on New Mexico in Focus, Gene Grant and The Line Opinion Panel discuss the ongoing fight to restrict access to reproductive healthcare in New Mexico. Grant asks why the town of Edgewood moved to pass an anti-abortion ordinance shortly after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a new law that prohibits municipalities from creating laws that restrict access.
Then, Grant and the panel discuss the statewide anti-abortion movement and consider the local impact of out-of-state activists on smaller, Republican-leaning communities across New Mexico.
Grant also sits down with Sam Cobb, mayor of Hobbs, to discuss Cobb’s decision last fall to pass an ordinance that restricts abortion access to residents. Gene asks the mayor if lawmakers in Santa Fe are hearing concerns and alternative viewpoints from his city.
Correspondent Gwyneth Doland talks with civil rights attorney Laura Schauer Ives about how local anti-abortion court cases could impact people nationwide.
The Vatican in March issued a formal “repudiation” of the Catholic Church’s “Doctrine of Discovery,” a papal decree made nearly 500 years ago that called for European colonization of Native American lands. Correspondent Antonia Gonzales speaks with two indigenous leaders to discuss the church's decision and how this is the first step in a long journey towards healing for indigenous communities.
New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, May 5 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 7 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app.
NMiF Segments
Mayor of Hobbs Explains Anti-Abortion Ordinance
Correspondent
Gene Grant
Guest
Sam Cobb, mayor, Hobbs
Civil Rights Attorney on Abortion Access in New Mexico and Nationwide
Correspondent
Gwyneth Doland
Guest
Laura Schauer Ives, civil rights attorney
Pueblo Reaction: Catholic Church Repudiates the Doctrine of Discovery
Correspondent
Antonia Gonzales
Guests
Joannie Suina (Cochiti Pueblo), National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition
State Rep. Derrick Lente (Sandia Pueblo), Sandia
New Mexico in Focus is the New Mexico PBS prime-time news magazine show covering the events, issues, and people that are shaping life in New Mexico and the Southwest. NMiF takes a multi-layered look at social, political, economic health, education, and art issues, and explores them in-depth with a critical eye to give them context beyond the "news of the moment."
New Mexico in Focus Executive Producer for NMPBS Public Affairs is Jeff Proctor and Senior Producer for New Mexico in Focus is Lou DiVizio. "Our Land" Senior Producer is Laura Paskus. Co-producer of New Mexico in Focus is Kathy Wimmer. Funding for New Mexico in Focus is provided by the McCune Charitable Foundation and Viewers Like You.
Funding for the Your New Mexico Government Project comes from the Thornburg Foundation and New Mexico Local News Fund.
Funding for Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present & Future, is provided in part by the Neeper Natural History Programming Fund for KNME-TV.