Pregnant people may experience a variety of gaps and barriers to care when accessing abortion.

General information intended for broad audiences isn’t always inclusive or applicable to our real lives.

People of different identities and those living through particular realities may face specific and often, dangerous obstacles in seeking care.

We affirm that every person deserves room to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives, AND know that is not always realistic.

Below, we provide more detailed information about accessing abortion that may be helpful for:

For people who are incarcerated, getting access to abortion and other related services is often challenging. While access to healthcare is constitutionally protected for people who are incarcerated, it can be really difficult, or even impossible, to actually get an abortion.

State and County Facilities

In practice, New Mexico’s state prison system and sometimes county jails are supposed to administer a pregnancy test during intake, and then inform the person of their pregnancy status. Like other healthcare services that should be offered to people who are incarcerated, whether someone gets needed healthcare services depends largely on where they are incarcerated.

If a person who is incarcerated is pregnant, they should be able to request an appointment to discuss their pregnancy and pregnancy options with a provider. If a pregnant person decides to have an abortion, they should be taken to an outside clinic/provider. If the person who is incarcerated is detained in a county jail or state prison, there should be no cost to the patient for this care.

Federal Facilities

For those incarcerated in a federal facility (federal prison or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] Detention), the Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal dollars to pay for abortion and abortion-related services. In theory, there are exceptions if a pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or if the pregnant person’s life is at risk, but the legal steps to prove those circumstances will likely be a barrier to getting a timely abortion.

If paying for your abortion is a barrier, you or someone you trust can reach out to a local abortion provider or abortion fund to find out if you qualify for financial assistance.

All Facilities

If someone is denied an appointment to talk with a provider about their pregnancy options or access to an abortion, it may be helpful for them, or their trusted contacts, to seek legal representation. A legal representative or attorney may facilitate the process of receiving a medical furlough. If your attorney is having a hard time getting you the care you need, there may be support from organizations like the ACLU of New Mexico to help explore other legal avenues. An incarcerated person and their trusted contacts may also consider connecting with advocacy groups, like Bold Futures, that could potentially draw attention to their urgent need for abortion. It’s important to note that these efforts will likely compromise the pregnant person’s privacy within the correctional system and greater communities.

Sexual Violence and People Who Are Incarcerated

Federal, state, and local detention centers in New Mexico are obligated to prevent sexual violence in facilities, but many incarcerated people still face sexual violence. Each prison has a designated Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Compliance Manager. This person is responsible for investigating allegations of sexual assault or harassment, whether the alleged perpetrator is a person who is incarcerated or staff. The Compliance Manager is required to confidentially connect the person who is incarcerated and experiences sexual violence to a PREA advocate at a nearby rape crisis center.

In 2020, 163 reports were filed statewide. At the end of the year, a full third of those cases were still under investigation, and only 10 allegations were found credible by the New Mexico Corrections Department investigator. Being told that your claim is “unsubstantiated” doesn’t mean that you were not raped or harassed. It simply means that the facility was not able, or did not try hard enough, to get evidence to support your claim.

Whether someone became pregnant as a result of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, or is navigating different types of violence (including emotional control or other unsafe situations), abortion should be available to them.

The impacts of controlling and violent partners, trauma, and navigating multiple systems are real.

Contact your local intimate partner / domestic violence program or sexual assault service program for free and confidential emotional support services, including advocacy and counseling.

People experiencing violence are often kept from making their own decisions about their bodies and lives, and often face difficulty in accessing abortion.

If you seek care with a provider, you can have a conversation with them, so they know your safety concerns and practice extra precautions in their communications with you. For example, you can ask that they don’t call or text you, or leave messages on your phone, but instead wait for you to reach out.

If you are being pressured into having an abortion and can find a way to tell the provider/clinic staff you don’t want an abortion, they are trained to listen and stop moving forward.

People who become pregnant as a result of sexual assault make a range of decisions about their pregnancies. All of these decisions are valid.

Some people who experience sexual violence seek care and support at a Sexual Assault Service Program / Rape Crisis Center. Some get a Sexual Assault Nurse Exam, while others decide to report to law enforcement. Others may decide not to share with anyone because of safety concerns or other reasons.

For people who decide to seek care, going to a local Sexual Assault Service Program can be one of your best options. Their providers and staff are specifically trained to care for people who have experienced sexual violence. Sexual Assault Service Programs / Rape Crisis Centers are designed to protect your privacy, confidentiality, and safety to the best of their ability. Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners are nurses specifically trained in providing care after a sexual or physical assault. Their first priority is to provide healthcare after an assault to ensure you are safe, as well as collect forensic evidence should you choose to report. Depending on the timing of the assault and when you seek care, they can provide emergency contraception (the morning after pill or copper IUD), as well as sexually transmitted infection testing and prevention medication. They can also provide referrals for pregnancy testing, abortion, and a range of pregnancy care options.

Note: If someone decides not to or cannot access a Sexual Assault Service Program / Rape Crisis Center, a hospital can be an option to get a Sexual Assault Nurse Exam. However, they may be charged for the exam and medical services provided, even if they have insurance.

Pregnancy and Intimate Partner / Domestic Violence

If you or someone you know is experiencing intimate partner violence, you may want to consider reaching out to an intimate partner / domestic violence program for support and resources. You deserve to access the care and services you want and need without the threat of violence.

For more information, contact the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

For those who typically get their healthcare at a military medical facility or Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic/hospital, these places may be where you have your primary and specialty care providers and where you might seek initial consultation for pregnancy. While your facility may provide pregnancy testing, under the Hyde Amendment, they are not allowed to provide abortion unless the pregnancy is a result of rape, incest, or if the pregnancy endangers your life (see Hyde Amendment). Unfortunately, many medical military facilities and VA facilities are not set up to provide abortions even under those circumstances.

This means that people in the military or those who access care through the VA will generally need to go outside of the military healthcare systems for abortion care. The cost of an abortion will most likely be an out-of-pocket expense.

People in New Mexico have the right to access abortion and other types of reproductive healthcare regardless of their immigration status. Immigrants, refugees, and/or undocumented people may face additional stigma, fear of criminalization, and language barriers, which can all affect the ways they are able to access abortion.

While these barriers exist, many providers in New Mexico serve immigrant communities across their healthcare needs.

Trans** people often face barriers to accessing high quality and non-discriminatory reproductive healthcare they deserve. Reproductive healthcare is an area of medicine in which binary beliefs about sex and gender are still pervasive among care providers. As a result, many trans** people may avoid these settings until care is absolutely necessary.

Trans** people may experience the same or different types of stigma and discrimination within reproductive healthcare as they experience in other healthcare settings. While care can vary widely, some reproductive healthcare and abortion clinics offer reproductive and general healthcare services inclusive to trans** people. Some facilities have implemented gender inclusive intake forms including sections for gender options, names, and pronouns, and have staff trained in providing welcoming and affirming care, while others continue to focus on cisgendered women as their sole service population. Asking particular providers/clinics about their experience serving trans** people may be helpful as you continue your healthcare journey.

Trans** people may benefit from adding support people to their care team, such as abortion doulas, or loved ones who might be available to accompany them while accessing abortion care. It can be helpful to delineate boundaries around language and treatment prior to entering a care setting so that once care is initiated, there is less time and energy spent trying to create safety within a healthcare context that may not be ideal.

Trans**patients should expect to be asked detailed questions about their health history including questions about menstrual cycle history, HRT use, medical history and more. This information is used to help determine the safety and timing of abortion procedures. It is always ok to decline to give health history information that you are not comfortable sharing.

We know that people who struggle with substance use and addiction face high levels of scrutiny and stigma. People living through cycles of substance use deserve support in pregnancy, parenting, and in accessing abortion.

As part of standard care, abortion clinics and care providers ask about and document a pregnant person’s detailed medical history to determine pregnancy timeline and abortion options. A medical history will likely include questions about prior pregnancies, substance and alcohol use, surgical history, as well as a list of medication and allergies. Laboratory testing may also be required or suggested. Additionally, drug testing may be requested by a provider. If a pregnant person declines lab testing, it may affect their ability to receive an abortion.