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Take a close look at the “All Women’s Health” sign for the only abortion clinic in McAllen, Texas.
It was forced to close last summer. The building is now owned by a group of anti-abortion advocates – a literal symbol of the end of Roe v. Wade and the right of women to vote in the country.
“I was numb,” said Cathy Torres of the Frontera Fund, an organization that used to help 30 to 40 people a month in Texas or go to nearby states for abortions.
“People always have abortions,” Torres said. “And they’ll keep having it. It’s just a matter of how and where.”
After the US Supreme Court overturned legal protection under the law for abortion Dobbs ruling June 2022Texas which triggered the ban outlawed almost all abortions in the country that month later.
As the new legislative session begins in Texas, anti-abortion lawmakers say their work on restricting access is far from over.
“I’m concerned about the restrictions on travel for abortion care. I think that’s what’s going to happen next. I just feel it in my bones,” Torres said.
Now, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas will decide whether mifepristone, a drug used in medical abortions, can become illegal nationwide.
“I’m concerned about what this fight is going to be like,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. “[Battles] on medication abortion, Plan B, access to basic birth control.”
CBC went to Texas’ Rio Grande Valley to see the reality of limited access.
Among the most restrictive laws in the US
The Rio Grande Valley in south Texas has long been at the center of the battle for abortion access. As of June 2022, All Women’s Health serves a vast area and a population of more than one million, including mostly Latina and many undocumented women.
Frontera Fund is part of a US federal class action lawsuit filed the day after Texas triggered a ban imposed asking for an injunction against possible prosecution to help people access legal abortions in other states.
“There’s just a lot of risk, criminal risk, right. I’m literally not even exaggerating,” said Torres.
Frontera Fund has reopened its helpline, but is limiting what it can tell callers about information available online. Torres said he worries about the legal ramifications of giving away too much information.
“We say that Google is merciful, because we are not just a random search engine. We have done this work before, so we have knowledge of what information people want.
“You know, we know people are scared.”
Texas passed some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States before the Dobbs decision. Senate Bill 8 was approved in 2021 which restricts abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and detection of cardiac activity.
A law also passed in 2021 states that 30 days after Roe v. Wade is repealed, the 1925 law will be reinstated, which makes all abortions in Texas illegal – except when the mother’s life is at risk. There are no exceptions for rape or incest.
However, there are networks that try to help women in restricted states like Texas.
Crossing the border for pills
Sandra Cardona of Necesito Abortar, a volunteer organization in Monterrey, Mexico, said 400 women approached her in December seeking help. Networks in Tijuana and the City of Guanajuato are also active.
Cardona helps women access abortion pills in Mexico and coordinates getting them to the United States. Mexico to decriminalize abortion in 2021.
“We accompany them in the process, in their decisions. We are with them and we listen,” he explained.
Last year, her organization spent more than $8,000 on misoprostol, a drug that can be used to cause miscarriages. It is often used in combination with mifepristone for medical abortion.
“Most of the people who ask about the legal situation, they’re a little scared.”
In Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, a few minutes’ walk across the border with Texas, people can buy misoprostol over the counter without a prescription. It is usually used to treat ulcers, so it is not illegal in Texas, the World Health Organization says misoprostol is 70 to 90 percent effective and safe for self-managed abortions, depending on how far along the pregnancy is.
Dozens of pharmacies line the streets, selling everything from Xanax to Ozempic. CBC News purchased several boxes of misoprostol, with prices varying from $30 to $80 per box.
The instructions also vary; one pharmacist told us to ask our doctor how to take it, another said that pregnant women should keep taking pills every few hours until she starts bleeding. Pharmacists also told us that more women are coming to the area to buy misoprostol.
In April 2022, Lizelle Herrera, a 26-year-old Rio Grande Valley woman, was charged with murder after a nurse at a local hospital in the Rio Grande Valley suspected she had caused a miscarriage. The charges were eventually dropped.
“‘I am concerned about the criminalization of pregnancy outcomes that we have seen in our community,” said Nancy Cárdenas Peña of the Latina National Reproductive Justice Institute.
“How can someone go to jail for the result of a pregnancy like a miscarriage or an abortion drug.”
The legislative battle continues
Peña spent this legislative session in Austin, Texas, tracking bills filed on health care access and abortion. So far more than 25 abortion-related bills have been filed, he said.
“We have some deep concerns over some bills that we have seen. We have a push from the state to sort of embolden district attorneys from other districts to prosecute cases outside their own district,” said Peña.
Two bills at certainhe explained, that meant to counteract the promise of the district attorney five counties and districtssuch as Dallas, San Antonio and Corpus Christi, to avoid pressing charges in the crime of abortion.
Democrats also filed a bill, like SD 227 to repeal all laws prohibiting abortion, or SB 122 including an exception for abortion in cases rape or incest.
The current abortion ban, however, has complicated problems for doctors and emergency physicians who treat pregnant women.
“We are now in a position where in the course of practicing medicine, we can be charged with felonies and crimes that our malpractice insurance will not cover,” said Dr. Alison Haddock, board member of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
The group released a statement when Roe v. Wade was overturned, worried about the ramifications when treating pregnant patients.
“That creates a very difficult scenario for all doctors, where they’re like, ‘OK, I know their health is in danger. At what point is their life in danger?'” Haddock said.
In Texas, there was a case of a pregnant woman having a miscarriage or experiencing a miscarriage, and the doctor sent her home from the emergency room. Some have become septic.
“You can get to the point where, yes, their life is at risk and the disease is progressing and you can’t safely treat it,” Haddock said.
“So I’m worried that pregnant women will lose their lives.”
Anti-abortion MPs are celebrating
The Texas Freedom Caucus is a group of Republican lawmakers pushing for tougher measures against abortion. Texas State Representative Matt Shaheen is a member.
“We have a lot to celebrate in the state of Texas,” Sheehan said.
Texas Freedom Congress sent a threatening letter to a Texas law firm that offered to help pay for employees traveling out of state for abortion care.
“We wanted to make people aware that they should seriously take a look at what they are doing and make sure they are not violating state statutes,” said Sheehan.
“We put provisions in place to make sure that doctors outside of the state of Texas don’t provide abortion pills and those kinds of things as well.”
Shaheen said he would also support a move to recognize fetal personality in the country.
Alabama, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri already have such laws that see women charged with endangering the life of a child by miscarrying or consuming illegal substances. Pregnancy Justice Advocacy Group documented 1,331 such cases from 2006 to 2020. Accusations are often made against low-income women of color.
“Texas has always been an example for the Conservative movement and for pushing this radical legislation,” said Rochelle Garza, who is running for Texas Attorney General in the 2022 midterms. She lost to Republican incumbent Ken Paxton.
“I don’t think he stopped,” Garza said.
“I think it’s very clear where the anti-choice movement is. And they want to make sure that every state bans access to abortion care, that every state stops leaving people to access that care in other states. It will stop and we have to fight back.”
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