New Mexico abortion case settles, citing unborn child as victim

The case Wabbington v. Boyd involved a 2020 abortion in New Mexico when the fetus was at 26 weeks of prenatal development. Plaintiffs claimed the woman could not give valid consent because she was using methamphetamine at the time she sought the procedure, and that the clinic should have been aware of her condition. Attorneys also asserted that, for the first time in the United States, a claim for unlawful causing of death extended to the unborn child.

The parties reached a settlement that dismissed the lawsuit and treated both the mother and the fetus as victims, but the agreement does not create binding legal precedent. The outcome highlights tensions in New Mexico law, where abortion is legal but homicide statutes were invoked in the claim.