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Austin, Texas When Trisha * discovered she was pregnant last May, the nearest abortion provider was in Fort Worth, Texas, more than 300 miles away.
The 27-year-old told Al Jazeera she wasn’t comfortable talking to anyone in her conservative hometown or family about her options – so she drove to the abortion clinic herself when she was almost eight weeks pregnant.
After spending $ 150 on gasoline to get to Fort Worth, she cried alone in the parking lot of a Whole Woman’s Health building before going in to apply for the procedure.
“It breaks my heart to know that there are people in both my community and my family who would dehumanize women if they used these services without knowing the circumstances,” she said. “There are other people who find themselves in a place of fear and insecurity, with no privileges or resources to find a way out.”
Now, after Texas passed the most restrictive abortion law in the United States, Trisha said she might have had to make a different choice if the law had been on the books when she needed an abortion. “Between having to spend even more money to travel out of the state and get a hotel room and recruiting someone to go with me, I may have tried to get at home,” she said.
‘I panicked’
The Texan legislature passed the 8th Senate Act in May, which supporters described as “a measure to protect the life of the unborn child”.
Many reproductive rights advocates assumed that the law would be blocked in court, as in the past. But the US Supreme Court declined to act in August, and in October a restraining order pausing the law was swiftly overturned after Texas petitioned for its reinstatement.
This means that the law effectively banning abortions after six weeks of gestation and allowing any citizen to sue anyone who provides or helps abortion services is in place. Still, the widespread ban on abortion services has not stopped patients from seeking help.
Many are still showing up at clinics assuming the media has exaggerated or misunderstood the law, said Marva Sadler, director of clinical operations at Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion provider that operates four clinics across Texas.
But the clinics bound by the new law are forced to turn people away. “They come with a glimmer of hope that we can help them,” Sadler told Al Jazeera. “There’s a moment of shock, of disbelief that this is really a thing – then a moment of panic about what to do next.”
Jessy Lieck, a 30-year-old law student in Lubbock, Texas, had a similar feeling.
“When SB8 came into effect, I panicked, as I sure many people did,” said Lieck. “If my birth control fails or I am raped and it’s been six weeks, I’ll be forced to have a rapist’s child, which is incredibly traumatic.”
Activists for reproductive rights in orange and anti-reproductive rights in blue gathered in the rotunda of the Texas State Capitol in 2013 [File: Mike Stone/Reuters]
Lieck has been looking for a tube ligature to prevent pregnancy for years, but even this operation is hard to come by in Texas, where doctors told her they would prefer to operate on older women who already had children. Given SB8, their search became urgent. She found a doctor who approved the procedure, which was scheduled for early December.
“I recognize the privilege I have with good university health insurance, financial stability and access to educational resources,” she said. “Others are not so lucky.”
Set of laws
SB8 is just the latest Texas law restricting access to abortion.
In 2012, state lawmakers ordered a sonogram and a 24-hour wait before patients could officially opt for the procedure. A year later, the operation of abortion clinics required formal legal agreements with local hospitals, which forced the closure of most facilities in the state. And in 2017, most basic plans banned abortion benefits.
But the struggle for reproductive rights in Texas points to a larger, nationwide struggle. Opponents of abortion services have long declared their intention to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 US Supreme Court ruling that established women’s right to abortion.
Former US President Donald Trump promoted the idea of abolishing Roe v. Wade when he appointed three Conservative justices to the Supreme Court during his tenure.
But even in Texas, where the current struggle for reproductive rights goes back years, that idea seemed a long way off to activists until August 31st. That evening, Diana Gomez was sitting updating the US Supreme Court website.
Progress Texas advocacy director Gomez had watched SB8 rise through committees to pass the state legislature in May, but she said she expected the Supreme Court to take action before the law goes into effect, precisely as with other states. Abortion restrictions on level.
“When it struck midnight, it was the first incident in which the Supreme Court did not use Roe v Wade as a precedent,” Gomez told Al Jazeera about the entry into force of SB8. “It was one of the first highs in a potentially dire future that Roe v Wade will be overthrown.”
In December, the state’s highest court will hear a Mississippi case on a 15-week abortion ban that could tip Roe against Wade and pave the way for other states to ban abortion.
Regardless of the decision in this case, the success of SB8 is likely to inspire other states to promote laws blocking or restricting abortion services. Such a bill is already being presented in Florida. “It’s not just Texas that wants this to happen, it’s a coordinated effort,” said Gomez.
Higher cost
Right now, Texans seeking abortion services have to rely on around 10 nonprofits to provide financial assistance to help them leave the state. But the volume of inquiries is more than many groups can handle.
One such group, Fund Texas Choice, said it received 10 to 15 calls a week from people seeking financial assistance to stop their pregnancies before Texas law went into effect. After September 1, the number of calls rose to 15 a day.
People attend a women’s march at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas [Stephen Spillman/AP Photo]
Previously, the organization gave between $ 500 and several thousand dollars to each patient to access services. Now each additional person needs approximately $ 1,000 to cover travel, room and board while traveling outside of the state.
“The demand has grown and it looks like we can’t meet that demand,” said Anna Rupani, General Manager of Fund Texas Choice. “It’s not sustainable.”
She said more than 65 percent of Fund Texas Choice’s customers are colored people, who are more likely to be economically disadvantaged. That means they face greater financial challenges when they raise a child or leave another state to end a pregnancy.
“Most of the people seeking abortion services are people who are already struggling to make ends meet, usually black, indigenous, and colored,” said Rupani.
Aimee Arrambide, executive director of Avow Texas, a reproductive rights advocacy group, confirmed this. “With the law, combined with the confusion, combined with the lack of resources, thousands of people in Texas will be forced to conceive against their will,” she said.
* For data protection reasons, the interviewee spoke to Al Jazeera using a pseudonym
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