The Albuquerque Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance will not appear on the October 8 ballot because the Albuquerque city clerk did not verify all the signatures on the petition.
Only 12,000 signatures are needed for the measure to be included on the ballot, and organizers received 27,000 signatures in only 20 days. The clerk’s office said they only verified 9,000 of the signatures, and the deadline to do so was Monday evening.
The ordinance could still appear on the ballot if there is a special election. Critics claim that will cost too much money, but Tara Shaver of Project Defending Life pointed out a way to save the money. From LifeNews:
“We are confident it will pass on a special election ballot. However, in order to save the city money we will ask that the City Councilors adopt the ordinance. The people have spoken – 27,000 in 20 days,” said Shaver.
The city council has the authority to adopt the ordinance as they have for other issues that have been submitted via legislative petition. This allows the ordinances to become law without a vote of the people.
There are no restrictions on abortion in New Mexico, and it is legal to abort a baby up to the day of birth. Albuquerque is home to one of the most high profile late-term abortion clinics, Southwestern Women’s Options, where owner Curtis Boyd openly characterizes what he does as “killing.”
This ordinance will outlaw abortion after 20 weeks within city limits.
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