How Mexican feminists are helping Americans get abortions

[cbabe]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/10/mexico-abortion-access-americans

How Mexican feminists are helping Americans get abortions

Latin American groups are sharing their abortion access models with US activists in as Roe v Wade stands to be overturned
Sandra Cardona marches for abortion rights with fellow members of the abortion network Red Necesito Abortar.

Cecilia Nowell
Fri 10 Jun 2022 05.00 EDT

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Over the course of the long weekend, members of 30 different abortion rights groups, from across Mexico and the United States, formed what they call the Red Transfronteriza, or Cross-Border Network. Following a model that Mexican and other Latin American feminists had developed over the past two decades, the Red Transfronteriza would “accompany” Americans through their abortions, guiding them through the World Health Organization’s protocol for safely using abortion pills without the supervision of a doctor. They would also supply abortion pills to Americans for nothing, mailing donated medications to the United States.

On the last day of their January gathering, the network held a press conference to announce their plan. The next day, Cruz said, 10 women had already written asking for help.

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Since January, they have mailed thousands of abortion pills to the United States and guided hundreds of Americans, not only Texans, through their questions and concerns. With the days probably numbered for the constitutional right to abortion in the US, they expect the need for their work to only grow.

At their January meeting, the Red Transfronteriza settled on two forms of support. If they could travel, Americans were welcome to cross the border and abort with the in-person support of Mexican networks. But if they couldn’t – for reasons of cost, logistics or immigration status – then the network would mail them abortion pills, free of charge, and then virtually walk them through their abortions. Groups based in the United States, which have chosen to remain anonymous for security reasons, would distribute the pills sent by their Mexican colleagues.

They send them “everything they are going to need – sanitary napkins, chewing gum for nausea, pills for pain”, said Sandra Cardona, a member of the Monterrey-based abortion network Red Necesito Abortar. “Everything so that you can have your abortion safely at home and without going out.”

Although many members of the Red Transfronteriza had experience working with Americans, the number of requests for help that they received from the US soared after SB 8 went into effect. Where Red Necesito Abortar used to receive four or five requests every month from the US, Cardona says they are now getting hundreds. Crystal Pérez Lira, a member of the Tijuana-based Colectiva Bloodys, estimates that the collective receives about 300 messages monthly on their social media accounts. And Cruz says that, since January, Las Libres has directly accompanied 200 women and mailed a thousand packages of pills to people in the US. Many Americans are reaching them through social media: the groups maintain active presences on Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, Reddit and even TikTok.

The groups are also building deeper alliances with US groups, which have long supported people seeking abortions by helping them fund the costs of the procedure, or travel to clinics in neighboring states. As more than half of US states appear poised to limit or ban abortion care if Roe is overturned this month, no the Red Transfronteriza hopes to show Americans how they have successfully supported Mexicans in aborting safely at home, outside of the medical establishment.

…more…

[niyad]

1. Thank you so much for sharing this important and encouraging information.

So thankful for our Sisters in Mexico.

[cbabe]

2. You're welcome. Reach out and spread the word.

[niyad]

3. We are doing our best.