Happy family

Find a legal form in minutes

Browse US Legal Forms’ largest database of 85k state and industry-specific legal forms.

New Mexico Abortion Laws

Code Section
New Mexico Statutes Chapter 30: Criminal Offenses, Article 5: Abortion and Article 5A: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

Statutory Definition of Illegal Abortion
New Mexico law claims that any abortion that isn’t a “justified medical termination” is illegal. However, this is unenforceable due to a constitutional right to privacy that a woman has over her own body. Partial-birth abortions are also banned in New Mexico. Partial birth abortions are legally defined as when a doctor intentionally extracts a viable fetus from the uterus into the vagina and mechanically extracts the cranial contents of the fetus to induce death.

Statutory Definition of Legal Abortion
Is lawful if the doctor and facility comply with the abortion licensing requirements and it isn’t a partial-birth abortion (except to save the woman or prevent great bodily harm to her).

Penalty
A “criminal abortion” is a fourth degree felony. If the woman dies as a result of the abortion, it’s a second degree felony. This law would come into play if someone did, for example, provide discount abortions by non-doctors out of their garage in unsanitary conditions. The criminal penalty for performing a partial-birth abortion is a fourth degree felony resulting in up to 18 months imprisonment and a possible fine up to $5,000.

Consent
A woman must request and consent to the abortion. No parental involvement requirement.

Residency
N/A

License
Licensed M.D., licensed hospital, written certification of hospital board required (a committee of 2 licensed M.D.s and alternates who decide questions of medical justification of specific case)


Inside New Mexico Abortion Laws