SANTA FE:  Following the Supreme Court's decision to reverse the precedent-setting Roe v. Wade ruling that protected women's reproductive rights, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed an executive order to protect women seeking abortions and abortion providers in the US state.

At a news conference on Monday, the Democratic governor, who is up for re-election in November, said: "Residents seeking access will be protected, providers will be protected, and abortion is and will continue to be legal, safe, and accessible, period."

The decision specifies that New Mexico will not abide by abortion-related warrants or extradition requests from other states and will work to protect healthcare practitioners who are the subject of lawsuits from losing their licences or being penalised for offering abortion services. The executive order "may be overturned by a future Governor," the local daily Albuquerque Journal reported.

The governor said that more actions, such as codifying abortion rights in state law and increasing public health financing, may be pursued during the 60-day legislative session that begins in January.

The US is engaged in a "national struggle" over women's abortion rights as many states move rapidly to maintain access to the procedure while "trigger" prohibitions take effect in a large number of other states. The Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision rendered a 1969 ban on abortion unlawful, so New Mexico's lawmakers decided to overturn it last year.

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