An abortion business that fled Mississippi for Las Cruces, N.M., after its loss in the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs case was the site of a big surprise as it was announced its neighbor will be a women's pro-life health center.
The Southwest Coalition for Life revealed plans to open the new Guiding Star Women's Health Center at a rally earlier this past summer near the Las Cruces Women’s Health Organization, also called the ‘Pink House West.’
The Mississippi surgical abortion center owned by Diane Derzis was at the center of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, the ruling for which overturned Roe v. Wade and was shut down and relocated to Las Cruces. New Mexico remains a state where women can obtain an abortion.
Pro-life advocates from New Mexico, Texas, and beyond took part in the July 19, 2022, rally, termed the New Frontline.
Each speaker emphasized the stark difference between abortion facilities that call themselves “women’s health centers” where services carry a charge and the ultrasound screen is often turned away from the mother, and authentic women’s health centers that honor a woman’s fertility and the sanctity of life, which offer parenting and family life programs, along with material assistance.
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Mark Cavaliere, CEO of the Southwest Coalition for Life, spoke to the crowd of about 400 people attending the New Frontline event.
“Abortion is not healthcare,” Cavaliere said.
“The governor of New Mexico is continuing to push the same antiquated 1970s narrative of Roe v. Wade,” he said, “which for 50 years has been telling women what to do with their bodies – that a woman needs to alter, suppress, and destroy the normal, healthy functions of her natural body through traumatic chemical abortion pills and invasive surgeries, in order to be successful.”
“After 50 years of medical advancements in women’s healthcare, we know that destroying any part of a woman’s body is not healthcare nor is it an advancement of women’s rights.”
David Bereit, founder, and former CEO of 40 Days for Life, emceed the rally, encouraging the pro-life crowd not to give up.
"Nothing is impossible for God," Bereit said.
“We need to do more than we have ever done before, and we need to press forward in this work until no more women cry and no more children die.” Bereit said.
Dominique Davis, executive director of Project Defending Life, spoke about the ways her organization has helped moms and babies, from financial assistance to help with bills, counseling, baby supplies, cars, shelter, and much more for years, generally in the area of two-and-a-half-million dollars’ worth every year. But the need is even greater now.
Three abortion facilities on the Texas-New Mexico border have closed since the Dobbs decision which resulted in Texas banning abortion. Davis said that pro-life pregnancy centers in New Mexico currently outnumber abortion clinics 3 to 1, but with more abortion providers moving into the state, it is estimated that it that ratio will soon be 2 to 1.
“Women and children are already being harmed in record numbers in New Mexico,” Cavaliere said, “and now our state is becoming the abortion destination for the nation, with some elected officials working to actually promote ‘abortion tourism.’”
Fully three-quarters of abortions now in New Mexico are performed on Texas residents, and more than a dozen Texas abortion facilities have plans to relocate to New Mexico.
In Las Cruces alone, three abortion facilities have opened in the past year.
“Additionally, New Mexico is now becoming the ‘back-alley abortion clinic’ for the entire state of Texas,” Cavaliere added, pointing to reports that two of Texas’ largest abortion vendors are planning to move their operations to New Mexico and to a California-based tele-health abortion business that is expanding its New Mexico operations.
“But the people of New Mexico are taking a stand to say not in our backyard, and not on our watch,” said Cavalier, “because women deserve better than abortion.”
Leah Jacobson, founder, and CEO of the National Guiding Star Project stressed that need to listen to women at the rally, so that they do not feel scared or trapped into abortion.
Father Alejandro Reyes, rector at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, shared that his own father had pressured his mother to abort him.
Because of his mother’s decision to choose life, Reyes said he can now be, “a voice to the voiceless, the unborn children at risk of abortion.”
Heartbeat International’s Director of Affiliate Services Beth Diemert emphasized how the Mississippi abortion center’s move to New Mexico was a self-serving one, and not in the interest of women.
"This move is not about serving women,” Diemert told Pregnancy Help News. “This move is about capitalizing on women in need, for profit.”
“This abortion provider has identified what they believe to be a premium location to exploit women and is moving into Las Cruces to encourage interstate abortion at the lowest level of risk they could find, thanks to a state government that can't define healthcare,” she said.
“Women need the truth about what is available to them when they face an unexpected pregnancy - tangible support and real compassion,” Diemert said. “The pregnancy centers in Texas and New Mexico are present and accounted for to do just that, educate and empower women so they can advocate for themselves with confidence.”
She added, “The pregnancy help community has proven its strength and support, so women never feel pressured into a decision for Big Abortion's financial gain."
Tweet This: Texas & New Mexico pregnancy centers are ready to offer women need the truth about what's available to them when facing unexpected pregnancy
More information on the Guiding Star Women's Health Center is available HERE and HERE.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
