All across rural New Mexico, access to good, competent healthcare has always been a struggle for working people and families. Whether one is looking for an Endocrinologist in Farmington in the Four Corners, or a Dentist that takes Medicaid in Hobbs in the Permian Basin, it is a time-consuming process.

It’s a misconception that all religious community members and faith leaders oppose LGBTQ+ rights because of their deeply held beliefs. This blanket statement simply doesn’t reflect the diversity of faith traditions or places of worship.

In 2023, the long time Otero County hospital was quietly being acquired without community input and little awareness. Knowing the impact to reproductive healthcare access and gender affirming fair plus the need for community to have a voice,

Kandace Littlefoot (Diné) discusses the Hyde Amendment and its impact on access to abortion care within Indigenous communities. “Indigenous people have survived genocide, removal of our children and forced sterilization, among other atrocities…I support abortion access because of my Indigenous matriarchal values and traditions — not in spite of them.”

Esta entrevista fue publicada originalmente en la edición de verano de 2018 del boletín trimestral de ACLU-NM, The Torch.

¿De qué se trataba el caso de Masterpiece Cakeshop?

Rachel Peterson, de 35 años, de Ionia, Mich., quedó embarazada a principios de este año, pero una ecografía a finales de junio reveló que el feto ya no tenía latidos del corazón. Ella y su esposo se dirigieron a la casa de un miembro de la familia en el norte de Michigan, a más de tres horas de distancia, para descomprimirse.

A woman brings her birth control prescription to her local pharmacy, but the pharmacist on duty refuses to fill it because of a religious opposition to contraception. A young boy shows up for a local martial arts class, but is turned away because the studio disapproves of his mother’s marriage to a woman. In the midst of transitioning, a transgender woman is fired from her job of six years because her company has a moral objection to her gender identity. A loving same-sex couple is ready to adopt a child into their family, but the agency believes only a married man and woman should co-parent.

Before coming out as transgender, I always saw Pride as an over-the-top and insanely fun celebration of humanity’s best quality: love.

Here we go again. After a certified nurse midwife prescribed misoprostol for her patient in preparation for an IUD insertion, she received a phone call from the pharmacist on duty asking for assurance that the medication wouldn’t be used for abortion because of his personal beliefs against it.

No one should ever have to wait to receive the healthcare they need to save their life because of the religious beliefs of someone else.