New Mexico voters now know the one issue that Mark Ronchetti just won’t stop talking about: banning abortion. In an effort to shore up far-right support for a flailing Republican candidate, Mike Pence campaigned for Ronchetti in Roswell today, as part of the former vice president’s declared effort to ban abortion nationwide.

“Ronchetti’s Roswell rendezvous with Mike Pence sends a clear message to New Mexicans: he’s looking to bring Pence’s right-wing, anti-abortion, job-losing agenda to New Mexico,” said Daniel Garcia, Communications Director for the New Mexico Democratic Party. “The difference is, New Mexicans won’t fall for that. Our state’s history as an accepting and inclusive place will never lead us down the road that Pence and ‘Right Wing’ Ronchetti want.”

This is the same Mike Pence who said, “We must not rest until abortion is outlawed in every state,” and whose so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act led to a corporate outcry and cost the state of Indiana tourism, jobs and lasting economic woes by giving businesses the right to discriminate against LGBTQ customers.

Ronchetti has taken extremist stances on abortion for his entire political career. For years, Mark Ronchetti claimed to oppose abortion “at all stages.” Since the U.S. Supreme Court released its decision overturning Roe vs. Wade on June 24th, Ronchetti has peddled two separate proposals for how to ban abortion at the state level: a 15 week abortion ban and a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.

Earlier this year, Ronchetti privately admitted to an Albuquerque pastor that he wants to ban all abortions in the state, but acknowledged he would not get elected if voters knew the truth about his extreme anti-abortion schemes. Ronchetti’s out-of-touch positions don’t stop at abortion and his efforts to criminalize reproductive health care is a slippery slope toward limiting contraceptives. During the Republican primary gubernatorial election, Ronchetti indicated he opposes insurance coverage for emergency contraceptives like Plan B, which he incorrectly referred to as a “morning after abortion pill”.

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