A model for the anti-choice community in other blue states. Blue-leaning New Mexico has been largely uninterested in wading into the fight over abortion rights. The state’s Republican governor, Susana Martinez, has declined to get involved in Albuquerque’s current ballot initiative. But the anti-abortion community is taking advantage of the fact that New Mexico offers generous home rule to its largest cities, and started pushing for a local ban when they couldn’t get any statewide measures past the legislature. “It is a sign that the anti-abortion movement is coming for blue states,” MSNBC’s Irin Carmon reported from the ground last week. “If the Albuquerque ordinance passes, abortion foes can say they have bipartisan momentum on their side.” Not every city in the U.S. is structured like New Mexico, a place where some local laws are allowed to supersede state laws. But even if the anti-choice community can’t push for multiple city-wide bans, it can still focus its attention on local targets. That strategy is already evident. Groups like Operation Rescue, which has been spearheading the fight for the 20-week ban, often put pressure on individual abortion clinics — narrowing access on a case-by-case basis, rather than with a sweeping legislative ban. The president of the group has suggested they’ll keep it up. “If you can’t get anything done in a state legislature…you look at what is going on in a city. They say all politics is local. This is a great example of that,” he told Reuters in September. - thinkprogress.org