Albuquerque is considered the late-term abortion capital of the nation. Nevertheless, the most recent city council election saw a conservative and pro-life majority elected. However, during the most recent council meeting (Monday, May 16), a budget was approved with a last-minute amendment to provide $250,000 to the local Planned Parenthood.
The amendment was sponsored by Democratic council member Tammy Fiebelkorn, who accused "anti-women extremists" of employing "aggression and intimidation" against Planned Parenthood clinics and staff, thereby requiring the city council to affirm "respect and support for women's reproductive freedoms."
Tara Shaver with Abortion Free New Mexico spoke with AFN about the quarter-million dollars given to the local abortion provider.
"… Whenever [the council members] talked about the amendment at the city council meeting, there was no discussion of what the money was appropriated for or anything like that," she explains. "We actually had found out about it after the fact that this amendment had in fact been introduced and passed."
The amendment passed 6-3, with two of those in favor coming from supposedly pro-life Republican members: Brook Bassan and Trudy Jones. Shaver says the two women shouldn't be surprised when pushback comes.
"We are leading the charge in exposing what has happened and also calling for these two Republican city councilors in particular to resign," Shaver explains. "[We're also to] issue to their constituents a public apology because these two councilors are not representing our fiscal or social conservative values."
According to Shaver, the city of Albuquerque is already facing many crisis situations financially, so she finds it "completely absurd" to reward a non-essential business. The official minutes from the May 16 meeting indicate the city took a half-million dollars from "affordable housing" and gave half of that to Planned Parenthood to free up more of the abortion company's budget for abortions.
