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Speaker 1: This older.

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Speaker 2: I think this part of town is close to the tracks.

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Speaker 3: Today, I'm in eastern New Mexico with Latino USA senior

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Speaker 3: producer Marta Martinez, and we just arrived to a town

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Speaker 3: called Clovis.

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Speaker 4: It's probably the older town, but it's cute.

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Speaker 3: This is Cute, which is less than ten minutes away

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Speaker 3: from the Texas border, so we're in New Mexico but

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Speaker 3: a stone's throw from Texas.

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Speaker 2: There is a welcome sign that says welcome to Clovis,

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Speaker 2: a community for family.

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Speaker 3: And then a huge cross and a large replica of

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Speaker 3: the Ten Commandments. And we're only eight miles from the

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Speaker 3: Texas border. So even though New Mexico is a blue state,

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Speaker 3: this part of New Mexico is actually kind of red.

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Speaker 5: It's not kind of red, it's very red.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And seeing the Ten Commandments is probably like the

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Speaker 3: clearest sign of what kind of a time you're arriving

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Speaker 3: to here in Clovis, Marta and I are in this

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Speaker 3: part of New Mexico to report on an issue that

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Speaker 3: has put this remote region of the country into the spotlight.

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Speaker 3: Abortion access.

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Speaker 2: All you can see around here are these endless plains

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Speaker 2: where they grow peanuts and corn, it's a landscape that

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Speaker 2: looks a lot more similar to Texas than New Mexico. Actually,

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Speaker 2: and it's not only the landscape that's similar, it's also

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Speaker 2: the politics. In the last presidential election, about seventy percent

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Speaker 2: of people in this region voted for Donald Trump.

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Speaker 5: There are sixty six churches here in Clovis.

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Speaker 2: And it's a town of less than fifty thousand people,

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Speaker 2: and nearly half of its residents are Latino Latina, latinx Latina,

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Speaker 2: or as they often say here, Hispanic.

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Speaker 3: Just past that Christian Wealth sign, we drive by a

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Speaker 3: yellow church with a big white cross, and we see

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Speaker 3: another sign that reads abortion is cold blooded murder. So

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Speaker 3: you might be wondering what's going on here, because New

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Speaker 3: Mexico is blue. It's a democratic state that in fact

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Speaker 3: protects abortion in its state laws. And that central contradiction

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Speaker 3: is exactly why we are here now. Martha, you like me,

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Speaker 3: have been reporting on women and reproductive rights for many

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Speaker 3: years now, So why don't you give us the headline

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Speaker 3: about just what's happening in eastern New Mexico.

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Speaker 2: New Mexico is actually a very rural state. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: the big cities like Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces. They

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Speaker 2: are democratic, but the rural regions, especially here in the

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Speaker 2: east side of the state, are a lot more conservative

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Speaker 2: and religious, so that means there are more people who.

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Speaker 5: Are against abortion.

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Speaker 2: But we also need to put this into context, Maria,

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Speaker 2: because a lot has happened in the last three years

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Speaker 2: when it comes to reproductive rights in the United States.

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Speaker 3: Yes, Martha, a lot has changed in terms of abortion.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty one, Texas passed Senate Bill eight, known

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Speaker 2: as SB eight, which is one of the strictest abortion

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Speaker 2: laws in the whole country.

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Speaker 6: Well, a new law has taken effect in Texas that

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Speaker 6: will severely limit women's access to abortions.

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Speaker 3: Senate Bill eight, the Texas Heartbeat Act.

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Speaker 4: Abortions will be banned once a fetal heartbeat is detected.

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Speaker 5: That's typically as six weeks gestation.

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Speaker 3: And what that meant on the ground was that a

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Speaker 3: lot of women's clinics had to close. In fact, Whole

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Speaker 3: Woman's Health is one of the providers that was directly

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Speaker 3: affected by SB eight in Texas, and we spoke with

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Speaker 3: Amy Hagstrom, she's the CEO and founder.

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Speaker 7: When SBA went into effect in September of twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 7: it was devastating.

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Speaker 2: So when they had to close their Texas clinics, Whole

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Speaker 2: Woman's Health and other abortion providers saw eastern New Mexico

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Speaker 2: as the best place to establish their quote unquote frontline

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Speaker 2: to keep providing services to people living in states where

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Speaker 2: abortion is banned, especially in the south of the country.

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Speaker 3: And that strategy made sense Martham, at least on paper. Right,

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Speaker 3: Let's open clinics in a state that strongly protects abortion,

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Speaker 3: a state like New Mexico. But let's also open clinics

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Speaker 3: in a border region that is right next to Texas

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Speaker 3: so that people don't have to travel so far. And

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Speaker 3: on that list of locations for a new clinic was Clovis,

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Speaker 3: which is where we are right.

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Speaker 8: Now, primarily with proximity.

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Speaker 7: And part of what we were looking at in those

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Speaker 7: border communities was one, will our.

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Speaker 8: Patients feel safe?

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Speaker 7: And two will our staff and our providers feel safe?

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Speaker 3: But it turns out that some neighbors in eastern New

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Speaker 3: Mexico were not so welcoming to this idea. From Futuro

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Speaker 3: Media and PRX, It's Latino Usa. I'm Mario Josa today

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Speaker 3: a story from our continuing series The Latino Factor. How

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Speaker 3: We Vote about what is moving voters to the polls.

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Speaker 3: This time, we're going to travel to New Mexico to

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Speaker 3: look at how abortion bans in Texas and in other

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Speaker 3: states are mobilizing Latinos and Latinas to take political action.

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Speaker 3: It turns out that in twenty twenty four, abortion is

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Speaker 3: one of the top issues for Latino voters in this

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Speaker 3: presidential election. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade a

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Speaker 3: little over two years ago, fourteen states have banned abortions

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Speaker 3: and another eight have passed laws restricting them as, especially

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Speaker 3: in the South and in the midwest of the country.

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Speaker 3: This new reality has turned New Mexico into a hub

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Speaker 3: for people who are looking to end their pregnancies and

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Speaker 3: check out this important piece of data. New Mexico is

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Speaker 3: the state where the number of abortions has grown the

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Speaker 3: most over the last three years. Abortions went from less

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Speaker 3: than five thousand total in twenty nineteen to more than

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Speaker 3: twenty thousand in twenty twenty three. So here in eastern

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Speaker 3: New Mexico, the issue of abortion has sparked tensions and

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Speaker 3: its mobilized Latinos and very specifically Latinas to work for

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Speaker 3: or against abortion access. Today producer Marta Martinez and I

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Speaker 3: are going to introduce you to some of these new activists.

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Speaker 3: Our piece is a collaboration with whyis the Pulse? And

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Speaker 3: to start off, we're gonna meet Dina Ortega.

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Speaker 9: Hi.

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Speaker 4: Hi, how are you nice to find le Mitcha. Sorry

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Speaker 4: y'all had to come in such a cold day.

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Speaker 3: Dina had a lot of energy, right Martha.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, she's this very smiley, very energetic, thirty seven year

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Speaker 2: old woman. She wears these gold rimed glasses and I

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Speaker 2: think what is very important for her is this small

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Speaker 2: cross that she wears on her neck.

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Speaker 4: I teach you through at my church and we're having

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Speaker 4: a fundraiser, so I have the flyers everywhere house.

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Speaker 3: Now, Dina is not from Clovis, where we started the piece, right,

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Speaker 3: She's from a town that's pretty close, right.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, Dina lives in Portales.

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Speaker 2: It's about thirty minutes south of Clovis and again less

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Speaker 2: than twenty minutes from the Texas border.

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Speaker 4: I grew up on the north side of town my

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Speaker 4: whole life. It's just across the tracks, and growing up

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Speaker 4: they called it Taco Town because it was all the

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Speaker 4: Spanish people, poor white people, and my mom, oh.

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Speaker 8: She hated it.

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Speaker 3: People still call it that.

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Speaker 4: There's even a restaurant, a taco truck and it's called

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Speaker 4: Taco Town.

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Speaker 2: Lena really loves her neighborhood. That's where her family has

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Speaker 2: lived for generations, and they have a very different name

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Speaker 2: for it.

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Speaker 4: This kind of starts what they called or take a

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Speaker 4: bill back.

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Speaker 3: Then, Oh wait what because.

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Speaker 4: It's a bunch of ortegas all my dad's family. It

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Speaker 4: starts over here at my parents' street, and it goes

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Speaker 4: all the way over here back to my house.

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Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, talk about or take avill We drove

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Speaker 3: around for a while and all the homes we saw

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Speaker 3: were owned by her family. And then we pulled up

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Speaker 3: to Dina's house, which was a grayish blue mobile home

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Speaker 3: and it was the only one around here that has

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Speaker 3: a ramp instead of stairs to get.

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Speaker 5: It, Yeah, this is my house.

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Speaker 4: It was hard, but I got it. You know, I

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Speaker 4: worked hard for it.

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Speaker 6: And you know, is your daughter here?

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Speaker 4: No, she's she had an event after school.

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Speaker 3: And the reason why they have a ramp is because

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Speaker 3: Dina lives with her eighteen year old daughter Sarah, also

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Speaker 3: her cat Spark. But Sarah is in a wheelchair, so

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Speaker 3: that's why the ramp.

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Speaker 5: But this is my house.

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Speaker 1: It's so cute.

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Speaker 3: Thank you now. Dina was only nineteen when she had

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Speaker 3: her baby, girl, Sarah.

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Speaker 4: Honestly, I was just young and stupid. There's no excuse.

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Speaker 4: I never really had that birth control talk with my mom.

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Speaker 4: It was always, if you have sex, you're going to hell.

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Speaker 3: Dina was already three months in when she took the

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Speaker 3: pregnancy test and it came back positive. But you never

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Speaker 3: thought of having an abortion.

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Speaker 5: It was ready too late.

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Speaker 10: Would you have.

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Speaker 3: Had if you had found out earlier? I know that's

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Speaker 3: hard to say now.

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Speaker 9: But.

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Speaker 4: I don't know. Back then, it wasn't something we talked about.

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Speaker 4: Something even new you could get. I wouldn't even have

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Speaker 4: known like where to go, what to do, who to call.

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Speaker 4: I mean, I was scared out of my mind to

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Speaker 4: tell my much less ask her what to do next.

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Speaker 8: What happened when you.

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Speaker 5: Told your mom?

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Speaker 3: I got in trouble.

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Speaker 4: It was awful. I know I broke my mom's heart.

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Speaker 5: Did she support you? Yeah?

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Speaker 4: If I didn't have my parents and my aunt and uncle,

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Speaker 4: I don't know what I would have done.

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Speaker 3: Dina's daughter was born with spina bifida, which means the

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Speaker 3: spinal cord doesn't form properly.

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Speaker 4: My daughter was sicker than sick. She only has one kidney.

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Speaker 4: She's had over thirteen surgeries on her feet, on her.

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Speaker 3: Back, so Sarah needed a lot of care.

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Speaker 4: I don't want to do that again. And I actually

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Speaker 4: tried tying my tubes when I had her. But I

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Speaker 4: had her in Texas and I was nineteen, and the

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Speaker 4: doctors didn't let me. They said I was too young.

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Speaker 3: After two years of focusing just on raising her daughter

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Speaker 3: and only twenty one years old at the time, Dina

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Speaker 3: started dating and she got into a new relationship. It

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Speaker 3: was great at first, but then he started abusing drugs

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Speaker 3: and alcohol and he got more controlling.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't allowed to wear makeup. I wasn't allowed to

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Speaker 4: have a lock pass on my phone. I wasn't allowed

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Speaker 4: to be on birth control.

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Speaker 3: I remember Dina telling us that she was really shocked

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Speaker 3: when she came under this kind of control of her partner.

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Speaker 2: She definitely didn't expect that, and that was the one

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Speaker 2: thing that Dina knew she was never going to comply with.

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Speaker 2: There was no way that she was going to have

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Speaker 2: another child after what she went through with Sarah, and

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Speaker 2: she also knew that she would be forever trapped with

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Speaker 2: her abusive partner. So she started taking birth control shots

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Speaker 2: every three months or so, and she did it in secret.

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Speaker 2: She would drive to Clovis, which is the town where

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Speaker 2: we started the story, and that's where the only women's

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Speaker 2: clinic in the region was at the time.

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Speaker 3: But Dina is very Catholic, right, Martha.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and she didn't see taking birth control as a

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Speaker 2: contradiction with her Catholic faith.

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Speaker 4: I really really don't think God would have wanted me

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Speaker 4: to bring a baby into that situation. My ex was

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Speaker 4: an addict and he was abusive. Why should a child

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Speaker 4: have to live through that.

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Speaker 2: Dina stayed with her partner for thirteen years during the pandemic.

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Speaker 2: She finally told him to leave.

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Speaker 3: Is that why you understand and take the possibility of

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Speaker 3: choosing an abortion? Is that why you take it so serious?

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Speaker 4: Because I know what it's like to feel trapped somewhere.

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Speaker 4: I would go to bed every single night and I

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Speaker 4: would just pray to God, God, I just want to

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Speaker 4: be happy. God, I just want to be happy. You

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Speaker 4: should never, as a woman, as a human being, ever have.

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Speaker 3: To think that. The summer when Roe v. Wade was overturned,

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Speaker 3: that's when Dina started joining pro choice demonstrations in Portales

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Speaker 3: and in Clovis.

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Speaker 4: I remember in high school I used to always say, like,

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Speaker 4: I would love to live in like the sixties, the seventies,

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Speaker 4: so I could do the protests, do the marches. And

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Speaker 4: then thirty years later, here I am doing it. You're

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Speaker 4: not supposed to go backwards, You're supposed to go forward.

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Speaker 3: And she became the vice chair of the local Democratic Party.

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Speaker 3: It turns out that in Dina's family, their allegiance to

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Speaker 3: the Democratic Party runs almost as deep as their Catholic faith.

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Speaker 4: If somebody knocked on my door right now and asked,

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Speaker 4: would you die for your Catholic faith, I would say yes,

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Speaker 4: I would do anything for my Catholic faith.

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Speaker 3: Sixty percent of Latinos living in New Mexico described themselves

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Speaker 3: as Catholic. Not many shared Dina's particular views on abortion.

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Speaker 4: But sorry for the who. What pisses me off is

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Speaker 4: they have so much say when it's a fetus, it's

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Speaker 4: in the wound, But then that baby grows up gay, black,

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Speaker 4: trans Then all of a sudden, they don't like you.

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Speaker 4: But I thought we all had to love all mankind.

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Speaker 3: But then Marta sbaight happened.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the very restrictive abortion law that Texas passed

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Speaker 2: only six weeks of pregnancy, and Dina was at work

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Speaker 2: at the local hospital that day.

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Speaker 5: She remembers it very well.

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Speaker 4: I just started crying at my desk and I was

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Speaker 4: just like, Oh my gosh, and I told my coworker,

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Speaker 4: we're going back to like the nineteen hundreds. What are

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Speaker 4: they going to take from us next.

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Speaker 2: Dina knew that the wave of consequences from SB eight

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Speaker 2: would also impact her community in eastern New Mexico, but

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Speaker 2: she didn't expect that part of it would involve trying

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Speaker 2: to bring back laws from the nineteenth century.

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Speaker 3: And coming up on Latino USA. How those nineteenth century

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Speaker 3: laws ended up waking up Latina activists in eastern New Mexico.

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Speaker 3: Stay with us, no devayas, Hey, we're back. Before the break,

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Speaker 3: we learned how the passing of an anti abortion law

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Speaker 3: in Texas ended up sparking tensions in Eastern New Mexico.

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Speaker 3: It turns out that some abortion providers saw eastern New

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Speaker 3: Mexico as the next ideal location to open new clinics.

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Speaker 3: That's because it's right on the border with Texas. But

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Speaker 3: when news broke about these potential clinics opening, everything changed,

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Speaker 3: and that's why producer Matta Martinez and I traveled specifically

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Speaker 3: to eastern New Mexico to meet up with Latinas and

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Speaker 3: Latinos who were then mobilized into political actions and in

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Speaker 3: favor or against abortion access. So first there's Dina Ordega,

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Speaker 3: who we just met, a devout Catholic who's also a

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Speaker 3: strong believer in a woman's right to choose.

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Speaker 2: And now we meet Victoria Robledo at a coffee shop

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Speaker 2: in Clovis.

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Speaker 5: Hello, nice to me.

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Speaker 11: Nice.

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Speaker 2: That's the town that's less than ten minutes away from

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Speaker 2: the Texas border that we mentioned at the top of

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Speaker 2: the show where there's this welcome sign with this big

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Speaker 2: cross and the tank commandments.

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Speaker 9: This is Blackwater Coffee, my favorite coffee shop and arguably

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Speaker 9: the best place in Clovis.

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Speaker 2: Victoria moved to Clovis in twenty twenty one because her

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Speaker 2: husband got a job at Canon Air Force Base, which

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Speaker 2: is nearby Clovis.

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Speaker 9: I like coming here because sometimes when you're in a

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Speaker 9: small town like this, you'll walk in and see, like

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Speaker 9: almost the whole coffee shop, you know them.

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Speaker 2: And this is also the cafe where her activism group,

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Speaker 2: which is called Eastern New Mexico Rising, was founded, and

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Speaker 2: they meet regularly here. They started organizing around reproductive rights

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Speaker 2: after Rob Waite was overturned.

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Speaker 9: Can I just get an ice squacho late?

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Speaker 12: A large ice.

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Speaker 3: Matcholate and Victoria? I mean, she's really got a big personality.

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Speaker 13: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Victoria is twenty five years old and she's already the

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Speaker 2: mother of two boys and also a personal trainer and

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Speaker 2: an activist.

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Speaker 5: So she has an incredible amount of energy.

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Speaker 2: Today she's wearing this bright red lipstick because style matters

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Speaker 2: to her. She's also from Corpus Christi, Texas, like the

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Speaker 2: singer Selina, and she likes to point out.

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Speaker 9: So moving over here, I was like, this is not

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Speaker 9: that different, you know, even though the state aligns with

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Speaker 9: my value, is like the town does it. So I

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Speaker 9: feel like I'm just in Texas all over again.

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Speaker 2: So after the coffee shop, we head to the public

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Speaker 2: library in Clovis, and this is a place where Victoria

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Speaker 2: comes up often with her two sons. Victoria became a

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Speaker 2: mother when she was very young, just like the Nortega,

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Speaker 2: the other Latina we met earlier in the show, and

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Speaker 2: it had a deep impact on her political views.

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Speaker 9: I had him at nineteen, and so just like the

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Speaker 9: after effects of having him, like postpartum depression and not

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Speaker 9: getting the resources that I needed. It was like, Okay,

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Speaker 9: this is my issue, this is the one.

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Speaker 5: That was what really spearheaded it.

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Speaker 3: In early twenty twenty two, Victoria and her husband celebrated

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Speaker 3: a pregnancy, but it ended soon in miscarriage. Then she

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Speaker 3: got pregnant again, and now she was worried about how

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Speaker 3: the overturn of Roe v Wade might impact her access

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Speaker 3: to healthcare during her pregnancy, and the news began to

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Speaker 3: hit much closer to home.

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Speaker 9: And then I see a Facebook post in April about

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Speaker 9: Women's Medical Center closings, and I'm.

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Speaker 5: Like, are you kidding me?

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Speaker 3: Women's Medical Center is where Victoria had started seeing an

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Speaker 3: OBGYN for her pregnancy in Clovis. So then it turns

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Speaker 3: out that they decide to close not because of Roe

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Speaker 3: v Wade, but because the doctor who had been there

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Speaker 3: for thirty five years decides to retire. But it wasn't

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Speaker 3: that simple.

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Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, they were not able to actually recruit enough

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Speaker 2: new obgyns to keep the practice opening Clovis. But as

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Speaker 2: you said, Maria, this was a clinic that was super

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Speaker 2: important for the whole region because it was the only

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Speaker 2: one that was able to deliver babies and perform guy

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Speaker 2: ncological surgeries.

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Speaker 5: And pretty much everyone.

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Speaker 2: We met during our reporting when we were in Clovis

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Speaker 2: and Portalis, they all had some kind of connection to

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Speaker 2: the clinic.

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Speaker 3: Right, And so when the clinic closes and Victoria is pregnant,

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Speaker 3: now Martha, she's told well, basically, get into your car,

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Speaker 3: drive one hundred miles to go to Lubbock in the

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Speaker 3: state of Texas, because that was now the closest place

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Speaker 3: where she could see an obgyn. But you know, Victoria

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Speaker 3: had already had a miscarriage.

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Speaker 2: And it was a real fear because there were news

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Speaker 2: at the time coming out of Texas of women who

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Speaker 2: had naturally miscarried and were not being treated by doctors

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Speaker 2: because of fear of this new abortion law that was

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Speaker 2: passed in Texas.

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Speaker 3: Do you remember what that felt like when you were like,

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Speaker 3: my god, there's no healthcare around for me.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, it was really upsetting.

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Speaker 9: I was frustrated because a part of me was like,

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Speaker 9: why is this the only place here? Like why is

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Speaker 9: there not more obi jo enns Because like hearing about

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Speaker 9: the obs like your rights might be at stake, but

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Speaker 9: here also your women's centers closed, so good luck.

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Speaker 3: Like super personal, like the politics of the Supreme Court

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Speaker 3: suddenly are like in your small town.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and that led Victoria to get politically involved in

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Speaker 2: her new hometown in a way she didn't expect, and

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Speaker 2: things got more tense very fast.

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Speaker 3: So, dear listener, so far we've heard from newly minted

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Speaker 3: Latina activists who are now out defending a woman's right

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Speaker 3: to choose in their small towns in eastern New Mexico.

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Speaker 3: But of course, Latinos, like everybody else in this country

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Speaker 3: in terms of politics, are very complex. So other people

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Speaker 3: have been mobilized now more than ever to rally against

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Speaker 3: abortion access. And we came upon this too in eastern

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Speaker 3: New Mexico.

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Speaker 1: Is this sales first down to Clovis?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, We met up with Pastor Eric Welsh at

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Speaker 3: Grace Covenant Reformed Church in Clovis, and that's the same

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Speaker 3: town where Victoria the activist lives.

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Speaker 5: I have no idea.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, his mother's family is from Mexico. His father

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Speaker 3: is Italian and Irish, but he grew up with his

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Speaker 3: familia on his mother's side, and so he identifies as Hispanic.

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Speaker 1: It's a very matriarchal family. My grandmother and all my

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Speaker 1: aunts and my mom, they're all very strong women.

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Speaker 3: In the summer of twenty twenty two, Eric Hurd that

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Speaker 3: an abortion clinic was considering his hometown as a new location.

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Speaker 1: And they had named Clovis specifically, and it was like, Oh,

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Speaker 1: we need to do something about this.

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Speaker 3: Because it was like, Oh, I live in New Mexico,

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Speaker 3: which is a blue state. Yes, they're going to protect abortion,

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Speaker 3: and I don't want to see this happen in my town.

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Speaker 11: That's right.

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Speaker 3: So, Martha, there's this thing that we have to talk about,

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Speaker 3: right that we witnessed in our reporting, which is that

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Speaker 3: so oftentimes it's men who are leading anti abortion groups

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Speaker 3: and men who are kind of the central public voice

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Speaker 3: on a question that really affects the health of women.

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Speaker 2: You're absolutely right, Maria, and it's important to hear from

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Speaker 2: women who are against abortion. But in this case in Clovis,

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Speaker 2: it was really Eric Welsh who played a really important

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Speaker 2: role in what happened in this border town and afterwards

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Speaker 2: in the whole region.

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Speaker 3: And in terms of Eric, he actually had a bit

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Speaker 3: of a difficult life, right He got married at nineteen,

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Speaker 3: started drinking and taking drugs, became a father at twenty,

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Speaker 3: but says he never considered abortion, even though he was

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Speaker 3: an atheist at the time.

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Speaker 1: My mom had me at fifteen, Like fifteen, raising me

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Speaker 1: is brutal. My dad wasn't the greatest dude, and she

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Speaker 1: always busted her rer end for me and my brother,

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Speaker 1: and I didn't really have the justification. If she could

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Speaker 1: do it, then I could do it.

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Speaker 3: Things didn't go well. He kept on drinking, he was

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Speaker 3: addicted to ooids, and then he went to rehab, even

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Speaker 3: though he was pretty skeptical about the religious part of

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Speaker 3: the program. But then one day, he says, a pastor

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Speaker 3: came and shared the gospel with him.

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Speaker 1: He said that God had taken on flesh and he

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Speaker 1: lived the perfect life that we couldn't. He took all

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Speaker 1: of the sin for his people on himself.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you had heard that I did for years. Yes,

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Speaker 3: So what happened in that moment.

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Speaker 1: I can't explain it. It was just I heard him.

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Speaker 1: The light switch went off, and I knew. I won't

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Speaker 1: say that I trusted it just quite yet, but I

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Speaker 1: knew that there was something different with me.

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Speaker 3: And he says since then, he's remained sober.

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Speaker 1: When I realized that God is real, I began reading

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Speaker 1: the scriptures. Where my addiction was the insatiable desire, it

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Speaker 1: now became learning about this God. And this topic of

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Speaker 1: abortion is one that is dealt with clearly in the scriptures.

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Speaker 3: But actually, Marta, the question of abortion in the scriptures

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Speaker 3: is in fact not so clear right.

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Speaker 2: Actually, the Bible doesn't mention abortion explicitly anywhere. Most anti

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Speaker 2: abortion Christians focus on its mentions of the value of

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00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 2: life in the womb and the idea of life beginning

445
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:21,840
Speaker 2: at conception.

446
00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:26,320
Speaker 1: This really is about loving women, it really is. It's

447
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:27,439
Speaker 1: not about controlling people.

448
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 3: But then Marta, Eric actually jumped in because he wanted

449
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 3: to control things that were happening in his town.

450
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, so when he heard that potentially an abortion provider

451
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,480
Speaker 2: might come to his hometown in Clovis, that's when he

452
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,320
Speaker 2: devoided all of his efforts to stop it, and he

453
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,919
Speaker 2: looked across the New Mexico border.

454
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 1: I contacted one of the guys who played an instrumental

455
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,399
Speaker 1: role in the Heartbeat bill for Texas.

456
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,880
Speaker 2: That's SB eight, the abortion band in Texas that we've

457
00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 2: talked about before. And Eric is referring to pastor Mark

458
00:26:01,200 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 2: Lee Dixon, the founder of the anti abortion group Right

459
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:05,360
Speaker 2: to Life of Is Texas.

460
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 6: I'm against abortion period, the taking of an innocent life

461
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:13,119
Speaker 6: made in the image of God.

462
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:14,639
Speaker 3: It shouldn't be.

463
00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 2: And then the other person he reached out to is

464
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 2: lawyer Jonathan F. Mitchell, who is also the former Texas

465
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:26,439
Speaker 2: Solicitor General and one of Donald Trump's personal lawyers.

466
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:28,840
Speaker 1: If you are opposed to abortion, I think it should

467
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 1: be outlaw and criminalized. Then the question becomes, how do

468
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,040
Speaker 1: you have an effective prohibition on abortion?

469
00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:39,119
Speaker 3: Okay, So, to be clear, Dixon and Mitchell are basically

470
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 3: the forces behind the abortion ban in the state of Texas,

471
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:49,200
Speaker 3: but now they're operating in eastern New Mexico. And so,

472
00:26:49,320 --> 00:26:52,680
Speaker 3: after Eric, the pastor in Clovis, insisted for a bit,

473
00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,840
Speaker 3: Mark Lee Dixon, the Texas pastor, comes to Clovis and

474
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:01,119
Speaker 3: they organize a public meeting in so Stember of twenty

475
00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 3: twenty two, located at Eric's church. And it turns out

476
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:06,560
Speaker 3: that a lot of people show.

477
00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,160
Speaker 1: Up on a normal church service, we have like fifty

478
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: people that show up here. There was a camera crew

479
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 1: over on that side by the exit, and we literally

480
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:17,800
Speaker 1: had every seat packed.

481
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:21,679
Speaker 2: And that's where Mark Lee Dixon shared this strategy that

482
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,040
Speaker 2: he's been leading to fight abortion at the local level.

483
00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 2: And this is what they call the Sanctuary Cities of

484
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:29,320
Speaker 2: the Unborn.

485
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 3: Okay, so they have a national policy and it's called

486
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 3: the Sanctuary Cities of the Unborn.

487
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a very well planned strategy from these

488
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:50,160
Speaker 2: Ontario abortion leaders to actually bond abortion at the local level,

489
00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:54,360
Speaker 2: especially in states where abortion is protected, like New Mexico.

490
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,400
Speaker 3: So how do they plan on doing that?

491
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 2: So what they did is they drafted this order, which

492
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 2: is like a rule that's made by a local government,

493
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 2: and it's based on a very obscure and pretty much

494
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 2: outdated law from the nineteenth century. That's called the Comstock Act,

495
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,440
Speaker 2: which is basically an anti obscenity law.

496
00:28:16,080 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 3: All Right, so let's take a moment because a lot

497
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:24,320
Speaker 3: has happened here and now we're talking about nineteenth century

498
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 3: laws that are being used in eastern New Mexico to

499
00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 3: restrict abortion. So, Mada, what exactly does the Comstock Act

500
00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 3: have to do with abortion?

501
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 2: It gets a little bit technical, but it's very important

502
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 2: and we are going to hear a lot more about

503
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,840
Speaker 2: the Comstock Act in the coming months. So basically, the

504
00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:53,520
Speaker 2: Comstock Act bans the shipping or receiving of any tools, drugs,

505
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 2: or other supplies that can be used in an abortion.

506
00:28:57,200 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 2: For most of the twentieth century, this was really not enforced,

507
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 2: and in many cases it's seen even as unconstitutional.

508
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,760
Speaker 3: Right because over the years, actually more federal laws were

509
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 3: passed in order to protect abortion access. And now these

510
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 3: nineteenth century laws are being revived. So how does this work? Exactly?

511
00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:25,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what these local ordinances are trying to do. Basically,

512
00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,320
Speaker 2: they would require a potential clinic that wanted to perform

513
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 2: abortions they would have to apply for a business license,

514
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,320
Speaker 2: and in order to get a license, they would have

515
00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 2: to confirm that they will quote unquote comply with federal law,

516
00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 2: which it's like a trap because it means that they

517
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 2: won't violate the Comstock Act.

518
00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 3: Which basically sounds like a roundabout way to effectively ban.

519
00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 2: Abortion exactly, because as we said, how are you going

520
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,959
Speaker 2: to get a license where you say you need to

521
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 2: comply with the Comstock Act if what you're trying to

522
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 2: do is to perform an abortion, and then you can't

523
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 2: get any supplies in town. But even though it all

524
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,000
Speaker 2: sounds like it doesn't make a lot of sense. There

525
00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 2: are actually sixty nine towns Maria across the country that

526
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:17,240
Speaker 2: have already passed comestock co ordinances. Most of them are

527
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,560
Speaker 2: in Texas, but there are also cities in states like Nebraska.

528
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 5: Iowa, and Illinois.

529
00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 2: We actually reached out to Mark Lee Dixon and Jonathan

530
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,680
Speaker 2: Mitchell to ask them about the sanctuary cities of the

531
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 2: unborn movement, and Dixon, the Texas pastor, responded via email

532
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:37,600
Speaker 2: saying that he has assisted almost eighty cities and counties

533
00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:42,040
Speaker 2: across seven states in trying to pass very similar ordinances

534
00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 2: to quote, protect the health and welfare of communities. Dixon

535
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,040
Speaker 2: added that his motivation to go to other states outside

536
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,400
Speaker 2: of Texas is that people have been asking for his

537
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 2: help and that quote, the rights of unborn children must

538
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:03,160
Speaker 2: be protected every where. So this is the proposal that

539
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 2: Mark Lee Dixon brought to Clovis, and they asked the

540
00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 2: residents to put pressure on their representatives to pass it.

541
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 3: Now, this is in fact part of a highly coordinated

542
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:20,560
Speaker 3: national strategy from these anti abortion leaders. So on the

543
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 3: local level, people like Vigdoria, the activist right, they were

544
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 3: really taken by surprise, like, how was it now that

545
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 3: their little town in eastern New Mexico became a kind

546
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 3: of ground zero of the front lines of the anti

547
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 3: abortion fight.

548
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:37,479
Speaker 5: I didn't even know what an ordnance was.

549
00:31:38,480 --> 00:31:41,760
Speaker 9: I didn't even know they were called commissioners. I knew nothing.

550
00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:45,840
Speaker 3: Victoria did worry that this was now about taking away

551
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:50,200
Speaker 3: access to women's healthcare in her community, and that would

552
00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 3: impact her because it turns out she was now pregnant again.

553
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, the potential that this Comstock ordinance could pass in

554
00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 2: her hometown of Clovid made her very scared because she

555
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:05,480
Speaker 2: was already worried about the lack of access for.

556
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:06,600
Speaker 5: Women to healthcare.

557
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 2: So she saw this ordinance as a threat and she

558
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,720
Speaker 2: was already seven months pregnant at the time.

559
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 9: It's not just about abortion, because abortion is only part

560
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 9: of reproductive healthcare as a whole. Is ridiculous because it's

561
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,920
Speaker 9: not a moral issue. I mean, it's just healthcare.

562
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:28,960
Speaker 3: And then everything moved really fast, right Marda.

563
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 2: Yes, two months after Pastor Eric Welsh organized this meeting

564
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:37,080
Speaker 2: at his church, they were already setting a vote in

565
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 2: the Clovid City Commission to consider deep Comstock ordinance, and

566
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:46,160
Speaker 2: that was November third, twenty twenty two, and Victoria thought

567
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 2: it was not random that this was moving so quickly.

568
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:51,960
Speaker 5: People don't pay attention to local politics.

569
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 9: So you can get this done fast without anyone noticing,

570
00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 9: then you're good. And Clovis was the first place in

571
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:01,240
Speaker 9: new for them to try this on.

572
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 2: There was a lot of expectation in the community. On

573
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 2: the day of the vote.

574
00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 8: The meeting was at five point thirty. People started lining

575
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:08,400
Speaker 8: up at three.

576
00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:12,200
Speaker 2: Forty five, and very few people usually show up at

577
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 2: these city meetings, but this time they actually had to

578
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:16,000
Speaker 2: set a limit.

579
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,640
Speaker 5: No more than two hundred people were allowed in.

580
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 2: There was also media, national media and Ontario abortion activists,

581
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 2: many of them from Texas.

582
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:26,800
Speaker 11: Good evening, everyone.

583
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:28,880
Speaker 5: Mayor Morris addressed the busy room.

584
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 11: We'll begin the meeting in the normal fashion with a

585
00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 11: prayer and then will honor our flag, So if you

586
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:35,400
Speaker 11: would please stand with me.

587
00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:39,080
Speaker 2: Chloes has eight city commissioners at the time of the meeting.

588
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:42,680
Speaker 2: Three of them were women, two of them were Latino

589
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 2: or Latina, and about thirty minutes into the meeting, that's

590
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,320
Speaker 2: when they started discussing the ordinances.

591
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 11: I don't know about all of you, but I've received

592
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,640
Speaker 11: more calls, messages, and emails today than any other single

593
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:57,880
Speaker 11: day in my adult life. However, in this public meeting,

594
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,000
Speaker 11: I do want to give you the opportunity to share

595
00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 11: with us.

596
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,440
Speaker 2: So the mayor allowed for five people to speak in

597
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 2: favor of the ordinance and five people to speak against it,

598
00:34:07,800 --> 00:34:10,200
Speaker 2: and one of the people who spoke in favor was

599
00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 2: Pastor Eric Welsh.

600
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 10: Why do we think that the answer to this question

601
00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:16,839
Speaker 10: is going to be found in a governor, is going

602
00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,480
Speaker 10: to be found in an ally at the state level.

603
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 10: The answer to this problem is found in God alone.

604
00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 10: This is either right or it is wrong. Which side

605
00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,640
Speaker 10: do you fall on? If you call yourself a Christian?

606
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,640
Speaker 10: Please please vote yes on this.

607
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:33,640
Speaker 11: Thank you.

608
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 2: And a few minutes later it was Victoria Robleto who

609
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:40,239
Speaker 2: took the microphone.

610
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:44,400
Speaker 9: I am a district or a constituent of district too pregnant.

611
00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,960
Speaker 2: Obviously, Victoria was eight months pregnant, and she was wearing

612
00:34:47,960 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 2: this black dress with her belly showing under a red blazer.

613
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,680
Speaker 9: The city cannot be a city for the unborn when

614
00:34:54,719 --> 00:34:58,279
Speaker 9: pregnant women like myself can't get the timely care they need.

615
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,320
Speaker 9: I'm doing less than a month with no appointment scheduled

616
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:01,720
Speaker 9: this week.

617
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:02,600
Speaker 8: It took me.

618
00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,720
Speaker 9: Longer to grow this child than for y'all to consider

619
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:07,719
Speaker 9: stripping away my rights tonight. So please, for the sake

620
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:11,520
Speaker 9: of our community, I ask from emotion to table Ordnance

621
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:12,439
Speaker 9: twenty one to eighty four.

622
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:13,680
Speaker 3: Thank you.

623
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,959
Speaker 2: What Victoria was asking is to table the ordinance, which

624
00:35:19,040 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 2: means to put the decision on hold.

625
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,920
Speaker 3: And then Mark Lee Dixon, the Texas pastor who co

626
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,160
Speaker 3: wrote the ordinance, he was there too, and he even

627
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:31,799
Speaker 3: spoke at the meeting, which was surprising because the testimonies

628
00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:34,720
Speaker 3: were supposed to be from the community.

629
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,400
Speaker 6: Right to Life. Heast Texas has no borders because people

630
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 6: from East Texas are coming to New Mexico for abortions.

631
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,640
Speaker 3: It was clear in his speech that for him, this

632
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:48,560
Speaker 3: local ordinance was part of something much bigger.

633
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 6: You're going to send a message tonight to all the

634
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:55,240
Speaker 6: media here, to all of New Mexico, to the United

635
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 6: States of America. Is Clovis ready to stand?

636
00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:06,520
Speaker 3: And he wasn't the only outsider there. Remember lawyer Jonathan F.

637
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,680
Speaker 3: Mitchell from Texas, the architect in the shadows of the

638
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 3: Texas Abortion Band and the Comstock Ordinance. He was following

639
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:18,600
Speaker 3: remotely via zoom, and he was available to answer any

640
00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:20,600
Speaker 3: legal questions, he said.

641
00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,160
Speaker 2: And Maria, it was very clear in the meeting that

642
00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:27,040
Speaker 2: the Clovis commissioners knew very little about the Comstock Act,

643
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:30,399
Speaker 2: and they asked Mitchell to explain some legal terms too.

644
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:33,520
Speaker 2: He's the one who really knows the details and the

645
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,359
Speaker 2: technicalities and the one who has a clear long term

646
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:41,520
Speaker 2: strategy for these ordinances that goes way beyond eastern New Mexico.

647
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:45,360
Speaker 2: But we will go into this later. We asked Victoria

648
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:47,120
Speaker 2: about this outside influence.

649
00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 9: Oh, it was the worst. The idea was not spurred

650
00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:56,040
Speaker 9: from local support. The idea came from Texas and was

651
00:36:56,160 --> 00:36:57,040
Speaker 9: planted here.

652
00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if you felt like your time in a

653
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:04,880
Speaker 2: way being manipulated. Yes, And we asked the same to

654
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,439
Speaker 2: Eric Welsh, but he felt the manipulation did not come

655
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:09,200
Speaker 2: from the outside.

656
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,840
Speaker 1: I felt that our town was being manipulated by our government.

657
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,279
Speaker 1: I think there was a lot of fear. This was

658
00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:16,200
Speaker 1: something that they desperately did not want to have to

659
00:37:16,200 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: deal with.

660
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 3: The meeting took about two and a half hours, and

661
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 3: that was when the commissioners were asked to vote on

662
00:37:26,239 --> 00:37:30,320
Speaker 3: a motion to table the ordinance. Now, a lot of

663
00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,959
Speaker 3: representatives were scared of passing it because that could open

664
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 3: the door to the state of New Mexico suing the city.

665
00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:41,160
Speaker 3: Because remember, New Mexico is a blue state that protects

666
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,560
Speaker 3: abortion access by law. So this ordinance would basically ban

667
00:37:45,680 --> 00:37:48,719
Speaker 3: the opening of an abortion clinic in Clovis, and that

668
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,879
Speaker 3: would seem to go against New Mexico's state law.

669
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:55,080
Speaker 11: I'll call the vote, Commission, please vote.

670
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 2: It was a nail biting moment for Victoria and the

671
00:37:58,120 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 2: Eastern New Mexico Rising team.

672
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,200
Speaker 9: So we're sitting here and there's a big screen right there,

673
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,799
Speaker 9: and we're just all looking at it, like holding on

674
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:08,600
Speaker 9: to each other, holding onto our seats.

675
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 5: A few seconds later, the vote is out on the screen.

676
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 11: By vote of seven in favor and want to pose

677
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:18,320
Speaker 11: the motion to table carries.

678
00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:22,839
Speaker 3: The Commission decides, in fact, to table the decision about

679
00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,279
Speaker 3: the ordinance, which was a win for Victoria and a

680
00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:28,719
Speaker 3: takedown of Pastor Eric Welsh.

681
00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: I was upset. I was very upset about that.

682
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,720
Speaker 3: Finally, some people started applauding about the tabling of the decision,

683
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,560
Speaker 3: and Victoria was among those who were celebrating this.

684
00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 9: We all started falling. I don't even remember the noises

685
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:45,920
Speaker 9: that were being made. It was just like so crazy.

686
00:38:46,680 --> 00:38:49,920
Speaker 3: It was an unexpected victory in a town that is

687
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:51,520
Speaker 3: majority Republican.

688
00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,960
Speaker 9: Meanwhile, we're like, we just saved our healthcare. It was

689
00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:01,880
Speaker 9: like David and Goliath, which is ironic during the circumstances.

690
00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:06,960
Speaker 5: But victorious joy wouldn't last long.

691
00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 3: And that's coming up on Latino USA because a wave

692
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:16,520
Speaker 3: of comstock ordinances gets pasted in eastern New Mexico, dealing

693
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:20,919
Speaker 3: a blow to pro choice Latinas there, stay with us,

694
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:43,160
Speaker 3: not Bayes. Hey, we're back. It's Maria no Josa with

695
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:47,000
Speaker 3: Martin Martinez and we're reporting as part of our series

696
00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:51,200
Speaker 3: The Latino Factor How we Vote, covering key issues in

697
00:39:51,239 --> 00:39:56,120
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty four presidential election for Latino and Latina voters.

698
00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:02,280
Speaker 3: Now it may sound st than fiction, but in fact

699
00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 3: it is true. You have laws from the eighteen seventies

700
00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:11,360
Speaker 3: that are being used today to prevent clinics that offer

701
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,600
Speaker 3: abortion care from even opening. In Clovis, New Mexico, the

702
00:40:15,640 --> 00:40:20,440
Speaker 3: decision to pass this ordinance was tabled, but anti abortion

703
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:24,200
Speaker 3: activists from out of state. Then when after another Eastern

704
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 3: New Mexico town it's called Hobbes. So Marda. Where is

705
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:30,440
Speaker 3: Hobbes and what happened there?

706
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:36,120
Speaker 2: So Hobbs is about two hours south of Clovis, and

707
00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:40,719
Speaker 2: it's also over sixty percent Latino or Hispanic as they

708
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:45,040
Speaker 2: usually say here. On November seventh, twenty twenty two, that's

709
00:40:45,320 --> 00:40:49,520
Speaker 2: just four days after Clovis decided to postpone their decision,

710
00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 2: Hobbs voted on a very similar anti abortion ordinance.

711
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:57,000
Speaker 3: So I will ask for a motion to approve Ordinance

712
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:58,040
Speaker 3: number eleven forty.

713
00:40:58,680 --> 00:40:59,360
Speaker 5: Please vote.

714
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:03,359
Speaker 2: And the commission in Hobbs, which is formed by six men,

715
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:07,879
Speaker 2: passed the comstock ordinance right away passion story.

716
00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:14,120
Speaker 3: And then in January of twenty twenty three, only two

717
00:41:14,160 --> 00:41:17,880
Speaker 3: months after Clovis had tabled their decision about the ordinance,

718
00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 3: the Clovis Commissioners voted on it once again.

719
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,640
Speaker 11: By a vote of seven in favor and one abstention.

720
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:31,040
Speaker 11: The motion is carried, and.

721
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 3: This time the ordinance passed. Mastor Eric Welch, who had

722
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,759
Speaker 3: brought the ordinance here, was in the room and he

723
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 3: was celebrating.

724
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 1: I was very excited about that. We made a stance,

725
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:45,040
Speaker 1: and any abortion clinic that wanted to come into Clovis

726
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,919
Speaker 1: knew that they're going to have to fight to be here,

727
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:51,719
Speaker 1: that we're not just going to roll over and say, oh, well,

728
00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,120
Speaker 1: you know state law. They're actually going to have a

729
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 1: fight on their hands, and that's what we wanted.

730
00:41:57,160 --> 00:42:02,279
Speaker 3: So remember Victoria Robedo, the act from this area. She

731
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,360
Speaker 3: had just given birth. She was watching all of this

732
00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 3: online and she was impacted because there was only one

733
00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:15,080
Speaker 3: Latina commissioner who voted for this ordinance, and she's a Democrat.

734
00:42:15,600 --> 00:42:18,359
Speaker 3: And this is what that commissioner said, her name is

735
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:22,160
Speaker 3: Helen Cassos. If anybody thinks that they can do a

736
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,359
Speaker 3: better job than any of us sitting up here, they

737
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:29,960
Speaker 3: need to run for election. And this changed everything for Victoria.

738
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:32,840
Speaker 5: I was like, no, this is not okay.

739
00:42:35,320 --> 00:42:40,520
Speaker 9: A paspanic woman who was a registered Democrat and then

740
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:45,319
Speaker 9: vote for this, No, okay, that's fine. Then I'm going

741
00:42:45,400 --> 00:42:48,520
Speaker 9: to take your seat. And so I was like, I'm

742
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:49,320
Speaker 9: gonna run for office.

743
00:42:57,320 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 3: The move to pass these ordinances doesn't stop there. It

744
00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:03,440
Speaker 3: actually continued.

745
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:08,160
Speaker 2: Just a few days later, another comstock ordinance passed. This

746
00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:10,640
Speaker 2: time it was in Roosevelt County, which is where Dina

747
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,000
Speaker 2: Ortega lives. That's the Catholic Latina that we met earlier

748
00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:14,479
Speaker 2: in the show.

749
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,440
Speaker 5: There was just so many people. It was so packed.

750
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,879
Speaker 4: It's like so intense. And the people against abortion are

751
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:24,400
Speaker 4: talking and they have just as much power and emotion

752
00:43:24,520 --> 00:43:25,719
Speaker 4: in their voice as we did.

753
00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 2: And there was no surprise in this vote either. The

754
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,680
Speaker 2: ordinance got passed by four votes in favor and one against.

755
00:43:35,440 --> 00:43:37,560
Speaker 4: I remember I walked out of that meeting and I

756
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 4: called my mom as soon as I got out, and

757
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:42,480
Speaker 4: I told her, Mom, I'm going to become a politician.

758
00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:44,880
Speaker 4: You feel that rush? And I said, Mom, what are

759
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:48,080
Speaker 4: these women, these girls are going to do, Because someone's

760
00:43:48,080 --> 00:43:51,040
Speaker 4: got a fight. Someone's got to be the backbone of

761
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:58,520
Speaker 4: this town. What about twenty twenty six, I'll be city council.

762
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:12,000
Speaker 3: So you have this wave of anti abortion ordinances taking

763
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:15,319
Speaker 3: over eastern New Mexico. But at the same time, in

764
00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three, Whole Woman's Health, the abortion provider that

765
00:44:19,560 --> 00:44:22,360
Speaker 3: we heard from earlier in the show, they made a

766
00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:26,080
Speaker 3: decision about where they wanted to open their first clinic

767
00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:27,360
Speaker 3: in New Mexico.

768
00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 2: Yes, they were considering Clovis or hops, but they finally

769
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 2: opened the clinic in Albuquerque, which is the biggest city

770
00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,880
Speaker 2: in the state, and we visited the clinic in April.

771
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:39,640
Speaker 8: Welcome to a Whole.

772
00:44:39,520 --> 00:44:40,759
Speaker 10: Woman Tells, How can I help you?

773
00:44:41,200 --> 00:44:46,280
Speaker 3: Hi's Maria Inrojosa and Martha Magrin. There's so much concern

774
00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:49,879
Speaker 3: around safety for anyone who provides abortions in the state

775
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:52,080
Speaker 3: of New Mexico now, so we're not able to tell

776
00:44:52,080 --> 00:44:54,799
Speaker 3: you the name of the person who actually brought us

777
00:44:54,800 --> 00:44:56,760
Speaker 3: into the clinic or do much description.

778
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,880
Speaker 12: So this is our lobby and this clinic specifically, we

779
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,680
Speaker 12: we've had to open up a second lobby to accommodate

780
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:04,960
Speaker 12: our patients who have to bring children with them.

781
00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,359
Speaker 2: And Albuquerque is three and a half hours away from

782
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,920
Speaker 2: the Texas border, so that's a considerable amount of extra

783
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:15,560
Speaker 2: time for people who have to drive when they're looking

784
00:45:15,640 --> 00:45:16,919
Speaker 2: to end their pregnancies.

785
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,759
Speaker 12: Because over fifty percent of our patient our parents already,

786
00:45:21,080 --> 00:45:23,399
Speaker 12: and many of them having to travel from so far

787
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,080
Speaker 12: and it's just not an option not to bring their children.

788
00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:31,759
Speaker 3: So even in this abortion clinic in Albuquerque, it's a

789
00:45:31,880 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 3: very different reality now.

790
00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 5: It's completely different.

791
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 2: Ammy Hackstrom, the founder of Whole Woman's Health, says that

792
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,720
Speaker 2: ninety five percent of their patients come from Texas now.

793
00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:46,480
Speaker 8: And I think in a community like Albuquerque.

794
00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:49,799
Speaker 7: It's big enough that we can blend in that our

795
00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:53,200
Speaker 7: patients may not be surveiled in the same kind of

796
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:55,719
Speaker 7: way that they might be in a small border community.

797
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 7: But I think those kinds of communities are really targeted

798
00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:00,560
Speaker 7: by this movement.

799
00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:06,359
Speaker 3: And that movement is again the Sanctuary Cities of the Unborn,

800
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:11,440
Speaker 3: led by Texas pastor Mark Lee Dixon and Texas lawyer

801
00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:18,520
Speaker 3: Jonathan Mitchell, because rural conservative border towns like Clovis near

802
00:46:18,760 --> 00:46:23,480
Speaker 3: states where abortion is banned are perfect locations for their strategy.

803
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:27,600
Speaker 3: Tensions around abortion are already high, and it's easier to

804
00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:31,840
Speaker 3: stir fear about the possibility of an abortion clinic opening there,

805
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:34,879
Speaker 3: and so people get riled up.

806
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:36,240
Speaker 5: That's right, Maria.

807
00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:39,080
Speaker 2: And they've done it in eastern New Mexico, as we

808
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:43,160
Speaker 2: already saw. They also showed up in West Wendover, Nevada,

809
00:46:43,280 --> 00:46:47,440
Speaker 2: next to the border with Utah, and also in Danville, Illinois,

810
00:46:47,640 --> 00:46:49,800
Speaker 2: next to Indiana, where abortion.

811
00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:51,520
Speaker 5: Is also aut law.

812
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:55,200
Speaker 2: And I've read several analysis from legal experts that say

813
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:58,960
Speaker 2: that the conservative strategy is to push for these states

814
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,360
Speaker 2: that protect abortion to sue the towns that have passed

815
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:07,319
Speaker 2: comstock ordinances. The end game, these legal experts say, is

816
00:47:07,360 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 2: that at some point one of these cases will make

817
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:12,640
Speaker 2: it up to the Supreme Court.

818
00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,000
Speaker 5: And maybe even lead to a national abortion man.

819
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:22,239
Speaker 3: That is so interesting, and let me see if I've

820
00:47:22,239 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 3: got this right. So Dixon and Mitchell, the brains behind

821
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:31,439
Speaker 3: these comstock ordinances, they know that what they're doing can

822
00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:36,600
Speaker 3: contradict state laws in states where abortion is protected, but

823
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:39,160
Speaker 3: they're doing it anyway because they want to get this

824
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:43,280
Speaker 3: to the Supreme Court of the United States exactly.

825
00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:47,240
Speaker 2: And this is something Amy Hastrom has seen before.

826
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:50,800
Speaker 7: Oftentimes, I have said anti abortion strategies, you know, it

827
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:54,000
Speaker 7: starts in Texas, doesn't stay in Texas. And I meant

828
00:47:54,000 --> 00:47:57,560
Speaker 7: that about the Roe v. Wade case, the Holeven's Healthy Jackson,

829
00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:59,680
Speaker 7: the Sbaight case. I mean, these are all cases that

830
00:47:59,719 --> 00:48:02,800
Speaker 7: starts maar in Texas that have affected people all across

831
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:03,360
Speaker 7: the country.

832
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:07,680
Speaker 3: Because there's a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, there

833
00:48:07,760 --> 00:48:11,960
Speaker 3: is a real chance that the anti abortion movement could

834
00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 3: get another outcome in their favor, like what we saw

835
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:16,640
Speaker 3: with the reversal of Roe v.

836
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:18,840
Speaker 5: Wade and Markley Dixon.

837
00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:23,200
Speaker 2: The Texas pastor was also quite blunt about their final goal.

838
00:48:23,239 --> 00:48:24,839
Speaker 5: When we asked him about this.

839
00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 2: In his email, he said that the final goal for

840
00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:34,360
Speaker 2: him and his movement is the end of abortion in

841
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:38,160
Speaker 2: all fifty states, and that the Comstock Act is for

842
00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:42,759
Speaker 2: them a means to that end. Dixon described Comstock as

843
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:45,480
Speaker 2: the law of the land, and he said that this

844
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,479
Speaker 2: is a federal law, which means it's above any state

845
00:48:48,560 --> 00:48:53,359
Speaker 2: laws or state constitutions. And Maria Dixon also said that

846
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:57,760
Speaker 2: he never intended to provoke a lawsuit against the ordinances,

847
00:48:57,800 --> 00:49:01,160
Speaker 2: but that he's not afraid of these ordinance says ending up.

848
00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:03,200
Speaker 5: Before the Supreme Court of the United.

849
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:07,839
Speaker 2: States, and he adds quote such a challenge would very

850
00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:10,879
Speaker 2: well lead to the end of abortion in America as

851
00:49:10,920 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 2: we know it. If that were to happen, I do

852
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:16,440
Speaker 2: not see that being a bad thing for America.

853
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:21,200
Speaker 3: So this really is a much bigger issue than a

854
00:49:21,200 --> 00:49:24,960
Speaker 3: local ordinance that is based on an obscure law that

855
00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:29,760
Speaker 3: is passed in a small rural town. The play is big.

856
00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:32,640
Speaker 7: We have to pay attention to what they're doing because

857
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:35,719
Speaker 7: they've had a lot of success sort of rebranding a

858
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:39,359
Speaker 7: lot of things that initially sound like absolute nonsense, and

859
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:42,280
Speaker 7: then they introduce them over and over and over again,

860
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:46,200
Speaker 7: in their diligence with that messaging can oftentimes make something

861
00:49:46,239 --> 00:49:49,279
Speaker 7: that started sounding extreme somehow normalized.

862
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:06,720
Speaker 3: It is a Saturday afternoon and we are back in Portales,

863
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:12,680
Speaker 3: New Mexico, with Dina Ortega and her family from Ortegaville,

864
00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:16,759
Speaker 3: and they are all at Catholic church for regular four

865
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:17,840
Speaker 3: pm Mass.

866
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:21,640
Speaker 4: We were at Saint Helen's Catholic Church. This is like

867
00:50:21,719 --> 00:50:22,680
Speaker 4: a second home to me.

868
00:50:23,480 --> 00:50:25,719
Speaker 3: As Dina talks about her daughter.

869
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:27,720
Speaker 4: Sarah, she's a reader, she's an elector.

870
00:50:27,760 --> 00:50:30,160
Speaker 3: Dina's mother parks in front of the church.

871
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 4: Let me go help with the wheel check, give me

872
00:50:32,280 --> 00:50:32,800
Speaker 4: just a second.

873
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:36,840
Speaker 3: Dina helps her daughter get out of the car. Sarah

874
00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:40,680
Speaker 3: is a freshman now at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales.

875
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:45,840
Speaker 3: Next to Dina is her mother, Cindy Ortega, and I

876
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 3: asked Cindy about her daughter's activism. What do you think

877
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:53,840
Speaker 3: about the fact that she's outspoken, specifically on the question

878
00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:55,800
Speaker 3: of reproductive rights abortion.

879
00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:02,600
Speaker 13: Dina knows that I'm I'm not for abortion, but who

880
00:51:02,680 --> 00:51:05,000
Speaker 13: am I to judge? You know, that's between them and

881
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:08,959
Speaker 13: their God. And I don't feel like it's anybody's power

882
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:11,040
Speaker 13: to say, yeah, you can no no, you can't.

883
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:12,320
Speaker 5: You know, that's up to them.

884
00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:15,600
Speaker 3: What does it do for you though, to see your daughter, Well, it.

885
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:16,240
Speaker 5: Makes me proud.

886
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:20,440
Speaker 13: Yeah, yeah, I'm real proud that she's really involved with

887
00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:21,480
Speaker 13: the Democrat Party.

888
00:51:21,680 --> 00:51:24,319
Speaker 3: Why does the Democratic Party? Why does it mean so

889
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:25,160
Speaker 3: much to you?

890
00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:28,120
Speaker 13: So I always tell the girls when I was born,

891
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:30,839
Speaker 13: I was born into the Catholic faith, and I'll die

892
00:51:30,840 --> 00:51:34,160
Speaker 13: a Catholic. When I turned eighteen, I signed up as

893
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,080
Speaker 13: a Democrat, and I'll die as a Democrat.

894
00:51:37,719 --> 00:51:41,080
Speaker 3: Dina's daughter, Sarah, went into the church, so we joined her.

895
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:46,480
Speaker 3: Inside Mass is about to start, so we are whispering,

896
00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:49,520
Speaker 3: but I had to ask Sarah about her mother, Dina,

897
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:53,240
Speaker 3: and about her activism for women's right to choose.

898
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:56,680
Speaker 14: I think it's really good just to show from women's rights,

899
00:51:56,840 --> 00:51:59,160
Speaker 14: coming from a woman, I think it's good to get

900
00:51:59,239 --> 00:52:02,080
Speaker 14: herself out there, show what she stands for.

901
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:06,520
Speaker 3: Then Sarah tells me she's already following in her mother's footsteps.

902
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:08,920
Speaker 3: What do you say to your little girl, cousin.

903
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:10,279
Speaker 14: Well, you got to stand up for yourself. You kind

904
00:52:10,280 --> 00:52:13,160
Speaker 14: of watch yourself in any moment because you never know

905
00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:15,960
Speaker 14: what can happen. But you got to just be a

906
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:17,880
Speaker 14: woman and do things that you know that you could do.

907
00:52:20,560 --> 00:52:23,520
Speaker 3: With the support of her family, Dina is firm in

908
00:52:23,600 --> 00:52:27,279
Speaker 3: her plans to run for city council in Portales in

909
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:39,680
Speaker 3: twenty twenty six. Okay, Martha, as we wrap up, just

910
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:42,040
Speaker 3: bring us up to date on what's happened with those

911
00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:44,839
Speaker 3: Comstock ordinances since twenty twenty three.

912
00:52:45,760 --> 00:52:49,280
Speaker 2: So the Comstock ordinances that we're passing eastern New Mexico

913
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 2: are now in illegal limbo, so to say, and it's

914
00:52:53,080 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 2: unclear whether they will ever come into effect. New Mexico

915
00:52:57,040 --> 00:53:00,800
Speaker 2: Attorney General Raul Torres filed a petition with the States

916
00:53:00,840 --> 00:53:04,799
Speaker 2: Supreme Court to avoid the ordinances. He says that the

917
00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:09,480
Speaker 2: ordinances overstepped their local power by trying to enforce federal laws,

918
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:14,359
Speaker 2: and he also says that they violate New Mexico's Constitution and.

919
00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:17,200
Speaker 5: Bill of Rights, which do protect abortion.

920
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:22,520
Speaker 2: In December of twenty twenty three, the New Mexico Supreme

921
00:53:22,560 --> 00:53:27,320
Speaker 2: Court held a hearing on the Constock ordinances. Victoria Robledo,

922
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:30,520
Speaker 2: the activist, traveled all the way to Santa Fe to

923
00:53:30,600 --> 00:53:33,840
Speaker 2: be in the courtroom that day, and she didn't go alone.

924
00:53:34,000 --> 00:53:37,480
Speaker 2: She brought her baby Silas, with whom she was pregnant

925
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:39,680
Speaker 2: when she first spoke at the Clovis.

926
00:53:39,360 --> 00:53:48,759
Speaker 9: Meeting, like Sailska s hy l A s Silas does you.

927
00:53:49,760 --> 00:53:53,080
Speaker 2: In eight months since the hearing, the New Mexico Supreme

928
00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:56,560
Speaker 2: Court has not issued a decision yet and it's not

929
00:53:56,719 --> 00:54:06,759
Speaker 2: clear when they will do that. It wasn't the first

930
00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:09,759
Speaker 2: time that Silas was joining his mother in her activism.

931
00:54:10,160 --> 00:54:13,400
Speaker 9: He's been to everything. He was a hit among the capitol,

932
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:17,319
Speaker 9: the security guards, the legislators. It was very easy to

933
00:54:17,320 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 9: get people to talk to you when you have a

934
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:19,719
Speaker 9: baby's drafting your.

935
00:54:19,920 --> 00:54:23,840
Speaker 2: Just Victoria and her husband recently purchased a new home

936
00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:27,399
Speaker 2: hearing Clovis. They've decided to raise their two children here

937
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:28,880
Speaker 2: in this community.

938
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:30,839
Speaker 10: You don't how to close every door you see?

939
00:54:30,880 --> 00:54:31,440
Speaker 11: You know that, right?

940
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:38,719
Speaker 13: No, no, no, no, no no no.

941
00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:43,280
Speaker 3: Victoria did end up running for city council last March.

942
00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:46,560
Speaker 3: What she enjoyed the most was knocking on doors and

943
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 3: listening to people from her community, people who looked just

944
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:51,120
Speaker 3: like her.

945
00:54:51,719 --> 00:54:55,440
Speaker 9: And that was something that I had constantly heard, like, oh,

946
00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:58,360
Speaker 9: it was anywhere from what is the city Commission? To

947
00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:02,680
Speaker 9: I pay tax and nothing gets done in my neighborhood

948
00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:04,880
Speaker 9: and we would be in a disadvantaged neighborhood.

949
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:08,640
Speaker 3: Victoria didn't win a seat in the city council, but

950
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:10,759
Speaker 3: she did get about a third of the vote.

951
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 9: I was disappointed, but at the same time, I felt

952
00:55:14,400 --> 00:55:18,000
Speaker 9: very hopeful because like those numbers looked a lot better

953
00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:24,279
Speaker 9: than I had thought they would. I may not be

954
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:26,439
Speaker 9: the best person for this, but you know, we're still

955
00:55:26,480 --> 00:55:29,719
Speaker 9: going to keep doing it because if not now, then when,

956
00:55:29,800 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 9: And if not me, then who. No one's gonna save us.

957
00:55:33,920 --> 00:55:36,600
Speaker 9: We got to do it ourselves, and so gotta keep going.

958
00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:04,800
Speaker 3: This episode was reported and produced by Martin Martinez and myself.

959
00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:08,120
Speaker 3: It was edited by Mitra Bonshahi, and it was mixed

960
00:56:08,160 --> 00:56:12,080
Speaker 3: by Stephanie Lebau. Fact checking for this episode by Monica

961
00:56:12,120 --> 00:56:16,200
Speaker 3: Morales Garcia. This story was produced in collaboration with w

962
00:56:16,480 --> 00:56:20,759
Speaker 3: hywise health and science show The Pulse and supported by

963
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:25,880
Speaker 3: the Commonwealth Fund. The Latino USA team also includes Julia Caruso,

964
00:56:26,000 --> 00:56:30,880
Speaker 3: Jessica Ellis, Victoria Estrada Rinaldo, Leanos Junior, Andrea Lopez, Gruzsado,

965
00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:36,000
Speaker 3: Luis Luna, Dori mad Martuiz, Martin Martinez, Mike Sargent, Nor Saudi,

966
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:40,240
Speaker 3: and Nancy Druquillo. Benillei Ramidez is our co executive producer.

967
00:56:40,360 --> 00:56:43,520
Speaker 3: I'm your co executive producer and host Marie na Posa.

968
00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:46,240
Speaker 3: Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,

969
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:48,120
Speaker 3: I'll see you on all of our social media and

970
00:56:48,280 --> 00:56:52,600
Speaker 3: especially an Instagram and Dick Dog and you too, and

971
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:55,520
Speaker 3: remember Notteva yas Chao.

972
00:57:00,200 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 15: Funding for Latino USA is coverage of a culture of

973
00:57:03,280 --> 00:57:05,839
Speaker 15: health is made possible in part by a grant from

974
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:10,560
Speaker 15: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Latino USA is made possible

975
00:57:10,600 --> 00:57:14,880
Speaker 15: in part by the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on

976
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:19,360
Speaker 15: the front lines of social change worldwide, and the John D.

977
00:57:19,600 --> 00:57:21,360
Speaker 15: And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

978
00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:32,280
Speaker 2: Now I look at them, Oh, look at youpark like

979
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:33,880
Speaker 2: four times.

980
00:57:34,560 --> 00:57:36,720
Speaker 3: It's okay, go ahead and spa on me. It's been

981
00:57:36,760 --> 00:57:38,640
Speaker 3: a while since I've had cat spit on my face.

982
00:57:38,800 --> 00:57:41,040
Speaker 5: Spark, what just happened