DALLAS — Advertisements published in the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram this morning asked North Texas medical professionals to consider moving to nearby New Mexico amid Texas' abortion bans.
The ads, which feature an open letter from New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham, urge Texas doctors to consider moving to New Mexico if they can not tolerate Texas' restriction on abortion access. Similar ads were published in the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Austin American-Statesman.
"I know that legal restrictions on healthcare in Texas have created a heavy burden for medical practitioners––especially those of you now barred by law from providing the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare," the letter reads. "It must be distressing that a draconian abortion ban has restricted your right to practice and turned it into a political weapon."
The print ads follow the placement of six billboards with the slogan "free to provide" around the Houston Medical Center. The billboards also encourage medical professionals to relocate to New Mexico.
In the letter, Grisham said lawmakers there are "fiercely committed to protecting medical freedoms here and we’re taking steps to ensure that what happened in Texas never happens in New Mexico."
Texas passed its abortion law soon after Roe v Wade was overturned. The ban makes performing an abortion punishable by up to life in prison, unless, “in the exercise of reasonable medical judgment,” a doctor believes the pregnant patient is at risk of death or “substantial impairment of a major bodily function.”
The language has confused many providers and caused a 99.89% decline in the number of abortions performed in the state. Several legal challenges have been filed in opposition to the law, the Texas Supreme Court rejected one such lawsuit in May.
Abortion is accessible in New Mexico. The state bans dilation and extraction procedures, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. The state does not ban any abortions based on gestational duration. Gov. Grisham has recently taken several steps to make the procedure more accessible to Texans traveling to obtain an abortion. The state outlawed cooperation with out-of-state law enforcement seeking to investigate or prosecute an individual who received a legal abortion in New Mexico.
Gov. Grisham also allocated $10 million to build a new abortion clinic near New Mexico's border with Texas, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
"You have my word: I will never interfere with the fundamental right of health workers to care for their patients in New Mexico," Grisham wrote. "Whether you are a nurse, a resident, a physician assistant, or a doctor, we cordially and enthusiastically invite you to the Land of Enchantment, where you are free to care for your patients."
Editor's note: This story was updated to correct when abortion is restricted in the state of New Mexico.