(LifeSiteNews) — A billboard campaign has been launched on the Texas border to combat abortion tourism from Texas border crossings into New Mexico.
The Albuquerque-based pro-life consortium LifeMinistriesUS recently began the billboard campaign in Texas to change the hearts of women traveling to New Mexico to procure abortions. The billboards are placed on the Texas side of the border on U.S. Highway 84 and I-40 (Amarillo).
According to LifeMinistries US member Bud Shaver, “Three billboards (two digital and one static) have been strategically placed along two separate major roadways in Texas toward New Mexico to reach women traveling for abortions … Tragically, the vast majority of the out of state abortions being obtained in New Mexico are [performed] on women from Texas who are evading their states’ pro-life laws.”
Shaver further explains in an email he sent New Mexico pro-life followers this month that the “primary message of our billboard campaign is to encourage Texas women to ‘Turn Around’ and not come to New Mexico to end the lives of their pre-born children. The fact that women can circumvent Texas abortion laws, by interstate travel, is a real constitutional crisis that must ultimately be addressed by the United States Supreme Court.”
“In 2023, approximately 70% of the estimated 21,000 abortions performed in New Mexico were on patients who traveled from Texas to kill their unborn babies … (approximately) 14,200 Texas babies were killed in the womb in New Mexico.”
New Mexico is one of the most radical pro-abortion states in America, and its governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, enthusiastically promotes abortion tourism.
RELATED: New Mexico’s Democrat governor sneaks $10 million for abortion center into spending bill
Governor Lujan Grisham and her political allies have created and funded with tax dollars advertising campaigns to draw Texas women seeking abortions to the “Land of Enchantment” and to recruit out-of-state abortionists to expand the state’s abortion business. The state has sanctioned and permitted late term abortion for many years. New Mexico abortionists commit more late term abortions than any other state in the nation (Prolifewitness.org report).
The Santa Fe-based state government has also funded two new multi-million dollar abortion centers in the state. A number of high-volume abortionists in Texas moved to New Mexico after Texas banned most abortions in the state. The new pro-life billboards are set to counter Planned Parenthood billboards also placed on the border.
On the Texas side of the border, the Texas Senate, led by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, recently passed Senate Bill 33 ,which intends to stop taxpayer-funded abortion travel. If the House gets on board and the Governor signs the bill, it will be unlawful for municipalities to disburse public funds to subsidize Texas women seeking abortions out of state.
Austin and San Antonio are two radical Texas cities whose city councils have approved funding for abortion travel. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit last fall against Austin to stop the city’s public funding for Texas women to travel and procure abortions out of state. According to the Attorney General, the Texas constitution prohibits government from such “logistical support of abortions” which are unlawful in the state, the city is violating the Texas Human Life Protection Act, and there is no “clear public benefit in funding out of state abortions. The suit is pending a court decision.
READ: Abortion travel decreased 9% in 2024 but overall abortions increased 1%: Guttmacher data
