Friday evening in the House legislature two pro-life bills were passes.  The debate that preceded the vote turned the night into one long evening on the floor of the House of Representatives.

HB390, the primary bill debated, would ban elective late-term abortion in the state.  The bill would stop abortions after 20-weeks of pregnancy except in the cases of rape, incest and health of the mother.

During debate on HB390, the heat turned up on the bill’s sponsor Rep. Yvette Herrell.  A few members of the House– Rep. Egolf and Rep. Alcon– had comments that were very out of line and certainly not becoming of gentlemen.  Herrell did New Mexico a great service when she decided to carry this bill.

Friday evening liberals were great at dragging out the conversation into matters unrelated to late-term abortion. First Rep. Egolf, the Democratic minority leader proposed a bill substitute that would not only completely change, but completely replace the original bill.  Republican House Majority leader Rep. Nate Gentry immediately objected to the bill citing a House rule, and the substitute was never voted on because it was deemed a violation of the House rules.

As debate progressed House Democrats sought to excuse their vote for atrocious late-term abortion claiming abortion is somehow “not governments’ business”.  Perhaps they would have have been correct if the progressive Democrats had listened to Rep. Nora Espinoza who reminded her fellow legislators that ending late term abortion means that citizens spend less tax dollars on abortion– now that’s getting government out!

Of course the liberal Democrats also brought up An argument that abortion should be between “the woman, her doctor, religion and her family”…but then an hour later the Democrats were arguing against another pro-life bill and saying that a girl’s parents shouldn’t even be notified before she has an abortion.   They argue that while a parent must CONSENT to a minor having a tooth pulled, a tattoo made or any body piercings she doesn’t even need to NOTIFY her parents when she gets an abortion.  Seriously!?  Can the Democrat legislators even make up their minds?

After the final vote on HB390 I was surprised to see that FIVE Democrats voted in support of a bill banning late term abortion.  Surprised, not that they shared my views, but that they had the guts to vote for life and a reasonable ban on late-term abortion and disregard the pressure from their party which they must have been facing.

But wait– FIVE Democrats voted for HB390– how would the vote on a late-term abortion bill have been in 2013 when Democrats still held the House if a bill similar to HB390 had made it through the committee process to the House floor?  With two more possibly socially conservative Democrat votes in the House at that time, Rep. Mary Helen Garcia and Rep. Sandra Jeff– who were primaried by more progressive Democrats, isn’t it likely that the bill would have passed in 2013?  The committee process here, is what has killed some very reasonable pro-life legislation.

And now HB390, the late-term abortion ban heads to the New Mexico Senate!  The bill has already shown that it has bipartisan support, which is a good sign as the legislation moves into less welcoming territory.  Many prayers for a pass are following it!