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"They are not alone": Mexican activists create networks to support US residents who need abortions

2022-07-01T02:09:31.028Z


Various organizations warn about the increase in inquiries and the people they receive from the United States, after the annulment of the Roe v. Wade. "It's a different world and we believe that the demand can continue to grow," says an activist.


By Albinson Linares and Maricruz Gutierrez

At first glance, it only looks like the small roof terrace of a house located in Monterrey, Nuevo León, two hours from the border with the United States.

It is a small space, with a kitchen and bathroom, called

La abortería

and it has become a haven of hope for dozens of women and pregnant people, both from Mexico and the United States, who have decided to interrupt their pregnancy with the use of medication.   

"You have to talk about abortion as a responsible decision. Abortion is a loving and safe decision, it is also a simple medical procedure," Vanessa Jiménez Rubalcava, one of the founders of this space in which she talks, explains in an interview with Telemundo News. supports people who need a safe space to be able to carry out the medically induced abortion process.

The abortion center

has 17 people who monthly advise and accompany the medically induced abortion processes of some 500 women, and is also part of the network I need to Abort Mexico, a project created six years ago to support people who need guidance on this issue. .

The repeal of the right to abortion continues to generate controversy

June 30, 202202:30

"It's about providing, like all the emotional, physical, economic tools so that women experience an abortion in a dignified way," explains Ileana Sandoval, a woman who has undergone two procedures with the support of this network and who is now part of of the project.

This counseling space

is the first public place in Mexico that has been created for these purposes

and, paradoxically, it is located in Nuevo León, a state where abortion is still a crime despite the fact that the Supreme Court of Mexico declared that it is unconstitutional to criminalize those who undergo this procedure.

[More than a dozen states ban or limit abortion following Supreme Court ruling.

This is the access map]

"We follow the protocols established by the World Health Organization and by the Mexican Ministry of Health. We use mifepristone and misoprostol as specified by both institutions both in cases that are already in week 12 or 14, and after that period , to make it safe. We accompany these processes, both in person here at

La abortería

, and through calls and text messages or WhatsApp," says Sandra Cardona, a member of the network.  

Cardona and Jiménez agree that, since before the reversal of Roe v.

Wade,

they began to detect an increase in the influx of people contacting them from the United States.

The recent decision of the Supreme Court triggered that, in a matter of hours, 13 states immediately prohibited or limited access to abortion while others are expected to do so in the coming weeks.

"Before, I only spoke to two or three people from the United States a year, but since March they write to us at least seven or ten a week. It's a different world and we believe that demand can continue to grow," says Jiménez Rubalcava.

Women activists in favor of abortion held a protest in front of the United States embassy, ​​in Mexico City, on June 29, 2022. Sáshenka Gutiérrez / EFE

Profem, a medical organization specialized in the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy in Mexico, says that 25% of its clientele comes from the United States.

In Monterrey, people who travel from the United States buy medicines that cost from 20 to 150 dollars, but in

La abortería they

can be free.  

The Mexican activists say that almost all people seeking help use means such as social networks to contact them and, in many cases, are more than six weeks pregnant.

In addition, they often express the fear they feel about what might happen to them legally when they return to their homes in the United States.

We try to make each one experience abortion in the most dignified way possible"

Vanessa Jiménez network I need to abort

"We try to make each one experience abortion in the most dignified way possible. I remember the case of a girl from Texas whose doctor wanted to send her to another state that was about ten hours away, but she preferred to travel to Monterrey, which is only two and a half hours, he also had family here. He

came with his mother, we were talking and solving all those doubts and everything went very well.

In fact, when he returns to Texas, he tells me: 'And now how do I tell my gynecologist, because He knew I was pregnant. I'm very scared.' And I asked him to tell the truth, that the abortion was done at five weeks, which is legal in Texas, and that's how it was. But they are new difficult situations," says Jiménez Rubalcava. .

With the decision annulling Roe v.

Wade many clinics located near the Mexican border expect a dramatic increase in patients.

In September, a Texas law prohibited abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy.

Before they were allowed until week 20.

The number of people who travel to Mexico to have access to abortion increases

June 27, 202203:18

"Mostly they come from East Texas from the big cities.

100 more patients arrive every month, 250 every month

," explains Dr. Franz Therad, director of the Women's Reproductive Clinic in New Mexico, in an interview with Noticias Telemundo.

This medical center is one of the few remaining abortion clinics along the US-Mexico border.

The restrictive laws that have been approved in states like Texas, Oklahoma or Idaho, among others, have caused the demand for reproductive services in places like Colorado to increase notably.

"We are dedicated to protecting the well-being of those who need health services. We have seen a fairly large increase in people coming from other states seeking access to abortion, today 50% of people who undergo these treatments in Colorado comes from out of state," said Julie Gonzales, a state senator from that entity.

Vanessa Jiménez Rubalcava, one of the founders of La abortería in Monterrey, Nuevo León.Noticias Telemundo

"We are quite concerned about what is happening in the US."

The recent decision of the highest US court, which annulled the constitutional right to abortion after almost half a century, places the United States as one of the countries where restrictions on this medical procedure are actively increasing.

"The case of the United States is an example that women's rights can never be taken for granted, not even in the global north.

They are rights that must be constantly defended

and permanent actions must be taken to avoid any type of setbacks" , says Cristina Rosero, senior legal counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The case of the United States is an example that women's rights can never be taken for granted"

Cristina Rosero, Center for Reproductive Rights

Throughout the world, women must overcome a series of laws, legal regulations and health procedures that are not uniform, but vary according to each country, each justice system or the guidelines of the health authorities.

During the last 25 years, the global trend has been towards the liberalization of abortion laws and recently large Latin American countries have taken very important steps in that direction, as are the cases of the three most populous nations: Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.

Despite this, that region remains one of the most restricted on abortion in the world.

Central American countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua totally criminalize abortion, which has serious consequences due to the continuous violations of the rights of women and pregnant people, forcing them to resort to unsafe and dangerous procedures, in addition to criminalizing those who suffer obstetric emergencies.

What will happen now that abortion has been repealed as a constitutional right?

An activist explains

June 27, 202205:53

"Unfortunately, because I did not have immediate medical assistance, I lost my baby. Besides, I almost died and then I went to jail. That is the suffering that affects us women, we are the ones who pay the consequences of these laws so unfair," says Teodora del Carmen Vásquez, a Salvadoran activist who spent almost 11 years in prison after suffering the loss of her son.

Although movements for the defense of women's rights have achieved the release of 65 women who were detained in El Salvador, there are still four in prison, and the most recent conviction occurred a month and a half ago.

[“Those who suffer obstetric emergencies cannot be convicted”: reactions to the ruling that points to El Salvador for human rights violations]

"We are quite concerned about what happens in the United States because it is a bad example, we do not like that what happens here is replicated in other countries. That harms us because, regardless of the country, women should be free of the decisions that we want to take to be mothers or not," says Vásquez.

Then there are countries where abortion is allowed when the life of the pregnant person is at risk, as is the case in Chile, and in other nations this cause is included and many others such as cases of rape, incest or fetus inviability. but they vary depending on national legislation.

Countries such as Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, among others, fall into this category.

"We have an interesting wave in several of

the most representative countries that are moving towards an increasingly broad decriminalization of abortion

and to understand the importance that this matter is not regulated only through criminal types, but also contemplates the protection of this health service through standards with a human rights perspective or from health standards," explains Rosero.

"Guns have more rights than women": protesters clash after end of Roe v.

Wade

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That green tide, as the movements in defense of the right to abortion are known due to the color of the handkerchiefs and the flags they fly in their demonstrations, has caused a series of important legal changes in some of the most influential countries in the region. .

In September 2021, the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice unanimously decided that criminalizing abortion was unconstitutional.

Since then, five more states have moved to legalize abortions.

Months later, the Colombian Constitutional Court ruled that abortion was no longer a crime.

Both rulings followed the legalization of abortion by Argentina's Congress in 2020, meaning that three of the four most populous countries in Latin America have accepted abortion rights in recent years.

Sandra Cardona, one of the founders of "La abortería" in Monterrey.Noticias Telemundo

"In order to achieve the progress of Colombia and Mexico, without a doubt, mobilization has been a key point.

At least the criminalization of women has stopped a little

, the persecution of this issue and they have begun to talk beyond the stigma , but there is still a long way to go," says Rosero, the legal expert at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Activists like Laura Salomé Canteros see the processes of decriminalization or legalization of abortion as part of the universal demand for human rights, a movement that in countries like Argentina is closely linked to the fall of the dictatorship and the advent of democracy.

The truth that the right to abortion is sovereignty over the body"

Laura Canteros Argentinian Activist

"We work a lot from a popular perspective, we promote what we call social decriminalization to change society first. The truth is that the right to abortion is sovereignty over the body, over decisions and over life, that is why we achieve demonstrations with hundreds of thousands of people of all ages," says Canteros.

In Argentina, Law 27,610 legalized access to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in 2020, establishing that all people with the capacity to gestate have the right to access an abortion until the 14th week. However, women whose cases fall under the grounds of " risk to the health or life of the woman or sexual violence" can have an abortion without a time limit.

"

The United States is a barbaric setback, honestly.

But it is also an opportunity to organize and fight in an intersectional way, because that is what the judicial, legislative and executive channels are for. There is a wake-up call for the Democratic Party in the next elections," says Canteros.

'This Can't Happen': Many React Tearfully to Ending US Abortion Rights

June 25, 202201:46

"No one should be left behind"

Despite recent changes, not everyone in Mexico supports abortion rights.

Being a country with a majority Catholic population —77.7% profess that religion, according to the 2020 census— there are various organizations that condemn access to this procedure.

"When a woman decides to have an abortion, she is attempting against a life. We propose prevention, education and even contraceptive policies (...) We were looking for conscientious objection to be promoted so that doctors could abstain, but it is not in force. This pro-abortion tourism it comes in a cascade, it comes massively and there are no restrictions," says Juan Manuel Alvarado, a member of the civil association Familias Fuertes Unidas por México.  

Activists like Sandra Cardona are used to hearing criticism and claims from the most conservative sectors of Mexican society.

In fact, in many cases they were part of that trend before devoting themselves entirely to the defense of women's rights.

Abortion clinics say they are 'ready' for women to get one

June 24, 202202:13

"I was also one of those closed people because, when I was a teenager, I raised signatures to criminalize women for having abortions. First of all, I understand them, but what I tell them is that this decision belongs to each woman, each person with ability to gestate.

We do not have to decide on the bodies of other women

, "explains Cardona.

A network of volunteers, with members in Mexico and the United States, is ready to advise and answer the questions of those who want to have an abortion, according to the calculations of these organizations they have already served some 1,700 people so far this year.

They have established cross-border alliances and drug banks in various US regions to meet the high demand for information and drugs that the Supreme Court decision has generated.

"Here we are, they are not alone.

No one should be left behind and there should be no women without rights,

which is what they are trying to do in the United States. There are no second class women, it is not possible that in Mexico we already have these advances and there go backwards," says Cardona.

Journalist Morgan Radford contributed to this report.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-07-01

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