This was an important vote for a couple of reasons. First, because it marks a new anti-choice strategy: Move en masse into a town and outlaw abortion on the local level. Second, because there are so few places left in the entire country that perform late-term abortions, losing even one is a major setback. Fortunately, Albuquerque voters sent it down with a nine-point margin, but you know how it goes with extremists. They will simply move their efforts to another town and start over:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Voters in New Mexico's largest city soundly defeated a ban on late-term abortions Tuesday in a municipal election that was being closely watched as a possible new front in the national abortion fight.
Voters rejected the measure 55 percent to 45 percent following an emotional and graphic campaign that brought in national groups and hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising. The campaign included protests that compared abortion to the Holocaust and displayed pictures of aborted fetuses.
A coalition of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Planned Parenthood, called the results a huge victory for Albuquerque women and families.
"Albuquerque families sent a powerful message today—they do not want the government interfering in their private medical decisions," Micaela Cadena with the Respect ABQ Women campaign said in a statement. "Dangerous, unconstitutional laws like the one we rejected today have no place in Albuquerque, no place in New Mexico, no place anywhere in our nation.".
The anti-abortion forces claim they lost because their supporters were confused by the wording of the ballot question.
