Activists’ network in Mexico helps U.S. women get abortions

CHIHUAHUA, Mexico — Marcela Castro’s office in Chihuahua is more than 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the distance doesn’t prevent her from assisting women in the United States in circumventing recently imposed bans on abortion. “We seek what the State has denied us out of prohibition.” Mexican women face a scenario that resembles the U.S., where more than a dozen states – including Texas -- have imposed sweeping abortion bans. “We have identified some pharmacies in which buying the pills is not a struggle or we suggest staying at a hotel and request the medication by delivery, to keep a low profile.” Dorado said Aborto Seguro Chihuahua mostly receives mifepristone pills from Las Libres, an organization founded 20 years ago in the conservative state of Guanajuato, in central Mexico, where abortion is still banned. Led by activist Veronica Cruz, Las Libres pioneered in training “acompañantes” to provide virtual guidance for self-managed medical abortions in Mexico and, since 2019, in the U.S. as well. His organization is pushing for new legislation, he added “so that those breaking Texas law by aiding and abetting abortion digitally or physically will be held accountable.” Nathan Cortez, a professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas specializing in health law, said he considered it inevitable that women in states with abortion bans would consider options outside the U.S. “This demonstrates the limits of a state’s jurisdiction — the more onerous and unreasonable your state laws are, the more likely you are to push prohibited activities elsewhere.” Cortez said.