Abortion

Anti-Choice Activists Target Albuquerque City Council Candidate With Graphic Mailer

The mailer was paid for by Protest ABQ, an organization operated by anti-choice activists Bud and Tara Shaver, former interns with the radical anti-choice organization Operation Rescue.

The mailer was paid for by Protest ABQ, an organization operated by anti-choice activists Bud and Tara Shaver, former interns with the radical anti-choice organization Operation Rescue. Shutterstock

See more of our coverage on the effects of the misleading Center for Medical Progress videos here.

Activists behind the campaign to pass an anti-choice ordinance in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are now using graphic mailers targeting a candidate for city council.

A mailer with graphic images of a fetus and a woman was sent to Albuquerque residents last week, attacking Democratic city council candidate Pat Davis for his position on reproductive rights, reported KRQE.

Davis is running for the city council District 6 seat against Republican Hess “Hessito” Yntema. Albuquerque City Council President Rey Garduño, a Democrat who represented District 6 for eight years, is retiring and has endorsed Davis.  

The front side of the mailer (which includes graphic images) said:

Pat Davis: Too extreme for City Council District 6, Davis champions this … Late term abortion victim, this is currently legal in NM. This woman died from LEGAL abortion … and you can expect more of this if he’s elected.

The back side of the mailer said:

Pat Davis, a radical leftist activist is running for Albuquerque City Council [District] 6. While Davis claims to be “progressive” he really champions archaic practices such [as] late-term abortion. Davis will not bring progress to ABQ but instead, he will ensure that barbaric late-term abortions will continue in our city. A vote for Pat Davis is a vote against the women and children of Albuquerque. A vote for Pat Davis is a vote for radical leftist ideals which have no place in Albuquerque.

Davis responded to the mailers with a statement on his Facebook page that said the “anonymous” mailers were “graphic and unnecessary.”

“It was designed to be in mailboxes on Saturdays when kids are home to pick up the mail and intended to keep voters away from the polls,” Davis wrote. “Albuquerque deserves better and we’ll send them that message by voting.”

The mailer was paid for by Protest ABQ, an organization operated by anti-choice activists Bud and Tara Shaver, former interns with the radical anti-choice organization Operation Rescue. The Shavers moved to Albuquerque in 2010 to target the Southwestern Women’s Options clinic, one of a handful of clinics around the country that provide later abortion care.

The Shavers campaigned in 2013 for a city-wide ban on abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation. After the activists secured enough petition signatures to force the city council to place the issue on the ballot, residents voted down the measure by an overwhelming 55-45 margin.

Protest ABQ filed a complaint with Attorney General Hector Balderas asking for an investigation into whether Southwestern Women’s Options in Albuquerque is violating state law concerning fetal tissue donation, reported the Albuquerque Journal.

The request for an investigation is in response to a series of videos published by the Center for Medical Progress, an anti-choice front group behind a series of videos spreading misinformation about Planned Parenthood’s policies and practices concerning fetal tissue donation. CMP has worked with Republican lawmakers in its campaign against Planned Parenthood.