‘Can’t even get cement’: Contractors boycott MLG’s abortion center project

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s multimillion-dollar plan to construct new abortion facilities in New Mexico is reportedly hitting major roadblocks, with contractors across the state refusing to take part in the taxpayer-funded projects.

The Southwest Coalition for Life, a pro-life organization, says the governor’s controversial $10 million abortion and transgender “mega-center” planned for Las Cruces has stalled because local and regional subcontractors are declining to bid on the job, leaving the state scrambling to find anyone willing to pour the foundation.

“They can’t find anyone to build it,” State Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice) said during a webcast hosted by the Coalition this week. “They’re reaching out beyond the local area because they can’t find any subcontractors to do any of the work. Keep the prayers up—she will not stop—but you are the only ones standing in the gap to protect life.”

The Las Cruces facility is one of several publicly funded abortion projects pushed by the governor since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. In 2023, Lujan Grisham persuaded the Democrat-controlled Legislature to appropriate $10 million for the southern New Mexico complex, to be operated in partnership with the University of New Mexico Health System. Earlier this year, lawmakers approved another $10 million for a second abortion facility in an undisclosed northern New Mexico location.

During the October 2025 special legislative session, the governor also forced through an additional $3 million for Planned Parenthood facilities across the state — a move that critics say deepens New Mexico’s status as one of the nation’s most permissive states for abortion.

But despite the massive state investment, the Las Cruces project has reportedly come to a standstill. Randy McMillan, a local businessman and Coalition supporter, said he personally contacted an El Paso-based contractor that was preparing to bid on the project and informed them about the facility’s purpose.

“When I told him what it really was — an abortion and transgender center that would perform late-term abortions — he was stunned,” McMillan said. “Within hours, he called me back and said, ‘Thank you for telling me the truth. We’re not going to bid it — and I’m calling all my subs to tell them not to bid it either.’”

Days later, McMillan said he received another call: “He said, ‘We did it. No one bid on the project. They can’t even get cement.’”

According to the Coalition, multiple suppliers have since refused to provide materials for the facility, bringing construction to a complete halt. “A multimillion-dollar state project has been stopped by the simple courage of truth and the power of prayer,” the group said.

The Southwest Coalition for Life called the situation a “miracle in motion,” crediting faith-based activism and community resistance for delaying the project. “Every day we delay construction is another day lives are saved,” the group wrote in its update.

Still, pro-life leaders warned that the governor remains determined to push forward and could soon attempt to bring in out-of-state contractors to complete the job. “The battle isn’t over,” said Gallegos. “But God is moving mountains in Las Cruces.”