ALBUQUERQUE — A newly released undercover video shows a representative at UNM Health explaining how a 14-year-old from Texas could obtain an abortion in New Mexico without parental notification and potentially receive assistance paying for travel and lodging.
In the recording, a man asking questions about a pregnant 14-year-old from Texas inquires about reproductive health options available in the state. The UNM Health representative tells him that a minor of that age can make the decision independently.
“Here at the age of 14, she makes that decision on her own,” the staff member says in the video, explaining that the patient would be treated as an adult for purposes of discussing her options and determining whether she wants to continue the pregnancy.
The representative explains that the patient could first receive options counseling with a physician and then decide whether to proceed with a termination, depending on how far along the pregnancy is.
When asked about timing, the staff member says procedures could be performed up to around 24 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the circumstances.
The man filming the conversation also asks how the procedure would be performed. The representative says the method would depend on gestational age, describing options that could include medication or a suction procedure performed in a clinical setting.
The discussion later turns to privacy and whether the minor’s parents would be notified if she sought care.
The staff member says the clinic would not notify parents if the patient did not want them involved.
“Out here we don’t notify anybody,” the representative says. “If she says no, it’s not OK. We don’t compromise.”
After explaining that parents would not be notified, the representative references federal health privacy protections.
“We take our HIPAA laws very, very seriously here,” the staff member says in the recording.
Under federal privacy rules, parents are generally considered the personal representative of a minor and may access their child’s medical information. But federal law defers to state law when a minor is legally allowed to consent to certain types of care.
New Mexico law allows minors to consent to medical care related to pregnancy without parental permission, and the state does not require parental notification or consent for abortion (NMSA 1978 §24-8-5). Because the minor can legally consent to that care, providers may treat the patient as the decision-maker for that treatment and are not required to disclose information to the parents.
In practice, that means a clinic could provide pregnancy-related care to a minor without notifying parents, even if family members later attempted to obtain information about the visit.
The video also addresses whether it would matter that the patient lives in Texas, where abortion laws are significantly more restrictive than in New Mexico.
According to the recording, the representative says a patient’s state of residence would not affect whether she could seek care.
“It’s OK if it’s somebody from Texas… that doesn’t make a difference or where they come from,” the staff member says in the video.
Cost is also discussed during the conversation. The representative says procedures typically begin around $600 but could increase depending on gestational age or if care were provided in a hospital setting.
The staff member adds that younger patients who are not working may qualify for financial assistance.
“Her being at 14, she’s probably not working,” the representative says. “So we can probably get her some funding.”
The representative explains that clinic staff can connect patients with financial support through a patient navigator who helps identify available funding sources, including organizations that assist people traveling for abortion services.
“We go to our patient navigator,” the representative says, explaining that the navigator reviews what support might be available and helps coordinate assistance.
The video provides a look into how abortion services may be discussed with out-of-state patients seeking care in New Mexico.
The state’s current legal framework traces back in part to changes made in 2021, when the New Mexico Legislature repealed a dormant 1969 criminal-abortion statute that had been unenforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Because lawmakers removed that statute from state law before the Supreme Court revisited abortion rights, no dormant ban took effect when Roe was overturned in 2022. New Mexico law no longer contains abortion-specific criminal provisions, leaving the procedure regulated primarily under general medical practice rules.
In the years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, several neighboring states have enacted strict abortion limits or near-total bans, prompting patients to travel to states where the procedure remains legal.
New Mexico has increasingly become one of those destinations.
In 2024, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham launched a campaign inviting Texas medical professionals to relocate to New Mexico, highlighting the state’s protection of reproductive health services. The campaign included billboards placed near Houston’s medical center and advertisements in major Texas newspapers promoting New Mexico as a place where physicians could practice the ‘full spectrum’ of reproductive health care.
The recording provides a rare look at how providers in New Mexico may explain abortion access, confidentiality protections and funding assistance to patients traveling from states where the procedure is heavily restricted.
