Mexican Activists Help US Abortion Seekers

Violeta (not her real name) is an abortion rights activist in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, just south of Texas. She is part of Matamoros Decide, a group of six women in her city who support abortion rights for women on both sides of the border. This tiny organization has built a transnational network of activists who make misoprostol available regardless of the intended recipient’s location, all while living in a state controlled by organized crime groups. They risk going to jail in Texas or losing their lives in Tamaulipas, as they fight for a right that is contested in both countries. Their perseverance stands as a model for those in the U.S. who seek to defend the constitutional right to an abortion, which is now under threat.

“Redes de acompañantes (accompaniment networks) are the key to safe abortions,” says Stephanie Lomeli, Coordinator of Fondo Maria. This abortion-care fund based in Mexico City began its work in 2008, a year after abortion was legalized in the Mexican capital. With the use of misoprostol, activists saw an opportunity to expand access, given that the drug is sold over-the-counter throughout Mexico. They began to support women by providing resources for self-managed abortions, following up throughout their abortion and use of the medication, or by connecting women with clinics in states where surgical abortion is legal. They also advise on procedures, cover travel expenses when needed, acquire misoprostol for those who can’t afford it or can’t find it, and use telemedicine to support women during and after an abortion.

These networks began informally at first, then evolved into national and international collectives of trained acompañantes. Some networks, like Las Libres in the state of Guanajuato, have been operating for 22 years. From Las Borders in Baja California to Marea Verde in Chihuahua, Acompañantes Laguna in Coahuila and Necesito Abortar in Nuevo Leon, Mexican activists are ready to lend a hand to anyone who needs it.

Since abortion became legal in the U.S. in 1973 with Roe v. Wade’s landmark decision, Mexican women with visas and financial resources have had the option of crossing the border in search of the procedure. Now the tables have turned.

“Even though we [Mexicans] have lived under the criminalization of abortion, it’s never been as strict and as restrictive as it is now in Texas,” says Mariela Castro of Marea Verde, a feminist collective advocating for women’s rights that’s located in the northern state of Chihuahua. “Texas is the perfect example that the right to an abortion is a conquest that is lost if it’s not defended.”

Underscoring this point, last week six representatives in U.S. state government from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, North Carolina and Colorado visited Mexico to learn about the work of the accompaniment networks.

Americans seeking an abortion, or those supporting someone who is, can cross into Mexico to buy misoprostol over the counter. Mexicans with visas, meanwhile, can carry the medicine into the U.S. to supply to those who need it. Marea Verde has provided such support to women from El Paso, says Castro.

Salma is a nutritionist in Chihuahua who divides her time between her day job and fighting to ensure other women’s right to an abortion. She asked that we not publish her last name, fearing it would endanger her professional licensure because abortions are illegal in Chihuahua and some states have sanctioned health workers who aid women seeking abortions.

Salma joined Marea Verde’s accompaniment network after a friend passed away following aggravated postpartum depression from an unintended pregnancy. Her friend didn’t have access to a safe abortion and Salma vowed she would help other women avoid her friend’s fate. When she is on duty as an acompañante, the first thing she does in the morning is check Marea Verde’s social media accounts for messages from women seeking assistance. Then she connects with other members of the network to see who can take on the cases.

“This work takes a lot of time and emotional labor because most of the women who come to us are afraid,” said Salma. “Sometimes we need to refer them to a psychologist in our network.” Marea Verde receives requests from women of all ages from across Chihuahua, as well as from Texas and countries in Central and South America.

Apart from providing access to abortion care, accompaniment networks are also normalizing and breaking taboos surrounding self-managed abortions. The networks are protected under the Mexican constitutional right of access to information and can exist openly on social media and other spaces – a freedom that medical practitioners and abortion allies do not enjoy in Texas. Yet even with this freedom, some Mexican activists face dangers.

Matamoros Decide in Tamaulipas has been harassed on social media for their activism and accompaniment work. According to one of its members, they have received death threats. Tamaulipas is on the U.S. State Department’s “do not travel” list due to the presence of organized crime there, which results in “gun battles, murder, armed robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, forced disappearances, extortion, and sexual assault.”

The blend of criminal activity and societal aversion to abortion creates a dangerous atmosphere, in which activists remain in the shadows.

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Mexico is hardly a beacon when it comes to reproductive rights. Over a span of 15 years, eight of the country’s 32 states have legalized abortion. But last September, the Mexican Supreme Court made a decision that could speed up the process for the rest of the country. The highest court decided unanimously that the criminalization of abortion is unconstitutional. While this decision does not translate directly to access, it protects women who have an abortion from prosecution and adds pressure on state legislatures to legalize it.

Still, misinformation is rampant, and some women in Mexico City – where abortion has been legal since 2007 – contact the abortion-care fund Fondo Maria without knowing they have a right to an abortion, said Lomeli, a representative of the organization.

“What’s happening with Roe v. Wade … shows we haven’t won the fight here in Mexico and that we can’t assume the Supreme Court’s ruling is our biggest gain,” she said.

As proponents of abortion rights in the U.S. are learning, what is given can be taken away.

Journalist Robert Lipsyte recently shared his and his wife’s story of seeking an abortion in New York before it was legal. Would you ever speak publicly about an abortion?

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