"‘Catholic’ senator introduces bill to force Christian hospitals to do abortions"

lifesitenews.com

"A self-described 'faithful' Catholic has introduced legislation forcing Christian healthcare workers to refer for abortions and Christian hospitals to perform them.

State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino introduced Senate Bill 282, which would repeal religious exemptions for participating in abortions.

SB-282 states, 'A hospital shall not refuse to provide a reproductive health service if withholding the reproductive health service would result in or prolong a serious risk to the patient's life or health; and, where a failure to provide the reproductive health service would violate the medical standard of care owed the patient.'

The legislation defines 'reproductive health service' as including 'termination of pregnancy.'

Ortiz y Pino labeled his bill a 'Patient Protection Act.' He did not explain how abortion 'protects' women, and the title of the legislation does not consider the baby in the womb to be a 'patient.'

New Mexico law allows exemptions for both individuals and hospitals with moral or religious objections to abortion. While SB-282 does not directly refer to those legal exemptions, the bill would eliminate those religious freedoms.

Ortiz y Pino voted to keep abortion legal up to the day of birth for any reason in 2015, 2016 and 2017. He justified his vote against a late-term abortion ban by claiming that the Bible doesn't say abortion is wrong.

New Mexico Alliance for Life (NMAFL) executive director Elisa Martinez called the bill a 'double attack.'

'SB-282 forces pro-life medical professionals to participate in abortion and its definitions of ‘standard of care’ and ‘health’ are so broad as to have no meaningful limitations,' she said...

Ortiz y Pino said that as a faithful Catholic he cannot support any abortion restrictions.  In one pro-abortion vote, he added that he went to Church that morning at St. Francis Basilica."