16,000 abortions. 10,000 from out of state.

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I need to share the hardest part of Wednesday's update, because it's the reason the clock is ticking this week.

Last year, there were 16,000 abortions performed in New Mexico. And as MJ told us on the webcast, 10,000 of those women traveled from out of state — to our home.

We see it every week. Of the roughly 67 women walking into the abortion clinic in Santa Teresa, 62 are from Texas. The abortion industry has made the borderland its regional base, and they're not slowing down.

The $10 million taxpayer-funded UNM abortion center in Las Cruces is almost complete. And now a second one is being actively planned for northern New Mexico. As I said Wednesday night, it is a slap in the face to the hardworking citizens of New Mexico — and it's a direct threat to the women of Texas.

So this year, we did something we've never done before.

We launched Southwest Coalition Action, our new advocacy arm, and hired Marcia "MJ" Jerry to lead it. For twelve years, we've served women on the sidewalk, in the clinic, in the birth center, and in the maternity home. Now the same coalition is carrying that work into policy and law across New Mexico.

And it's already bearing fruit. MJ shared that a New Mexico court has recognized a 26-week-old unborn child as a person under our state's wrongful death act — a landmark case won by our friend Mike Seibel, which was just featured in Vatican News. As MJ put it: "True change requires more than just words. It demands action."

Here's why that matters, and it's something Mark said Wednesday that I keep coming back to. In most of the country, the policy people, the healthcare people, and the sidewalk people are in different organizations that barely talk to each other. Here, it's all one team. When MJ walks into a room in Santa Fe, she's not carrying a position paper. She's carrying twelve years of data and stories from the sidewalks, a birth center, and a maternity home. That's what gives her the credibility to be heard.

This is not a Texas problem or a New Mexico problem. What happens on one side of the state line never stays there. It's one region, one community, and one fight — and it takes work on both sides to win it.

That's what the $150,000 matching challenge funds: the whole response, under one roof. The sidewalk, the clinic next door to Santa Teresa, Guiding Star, the Lily Pad, and now the fight for New Mexico's future. Through midnight on October 15, every dollar you give through El Paso Giving Day is doubled — and the first organizations to meet their match are in the running for one of a limited number of $25,000 bonus awards.

Two days left … and don’t forget that we will credit your donation towards your tickets or table sponsorship for the Boots, Babies, & Big Dreams Gala with Riley Gaines on December 2 in Las Cruces and December 3 in El Paso!

The industry has $10 million and a plan for a second center. We have you. Let's find out which one is stronger.

Gratefully in Christ,

Jessica Sifuentes
President & CEO
Southwest Coalition, Inc.

P.S. — Tonight and tomorrow, 5–7 PM: the final stops on our open house passport tour. Tour Guiding Star, then ride the shuttle to the Lily Pad and see the home a judge is asking us to expand.

P.P.S. — MJ's full segment, including what we learned from the fight against the first center, is on the replay. Watch here »