Mexican Activists Help US Women Get Abortion

Mexican Activists² Help US Women Get Abortion³

Marcela Castro's office in Chihuahua is more than 150 kilometers from the United States-Mexico border. But the distance does not prevent her from assisting women in the U.S. to go around the recent bans on abortion, a medical procedure to end a pregnancy⁴.

Castro and her coworkers work for Marea Verde Chihuahua. The organization of mostly volunteers has supported reproductive rights in northern Mexico since 2018. They provide virtual guidance and abortion pills for women who want to end a pregnancy on their own.

Their abortion model requires no travel, health center visit, or prescriptions⁶. It was developed by Mexican activists through many years of facing abortion bans and restrictions⁷ in Mexico. The organization does not charge for the help they provide. And the model gained interest in the U.S. as the Supreme⁸ Court overturned Roe⁹ v. Wade¹⁰ to end the constitutional right to abortion last year.

Castro and her coworkers are trained "acompañantes." They can safely advise women on self-administered medical abortions¹¹. And they serve as a guide and partner, in person or from a distance. They have studied national abortion guidelines and they fully¹² know the medical procedures established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"We don't offer medical attention because we are not doctors," Castro said. "Although it is a medical procedure, it does not require hospital measures."

Most women from the U.S. contact Marea Verde Chihuahua through social media or are introduced by someone. Most communicate in Spanish, though the "acompañantes" could also assist English speakers as well. Communication usually is conducted via a mobile and secure tool, WhatsApp.

In most cases, medication is advised and the "acompañante" provides a combination of two drugs, misoprostol and mifepristone, to end the pregnancy. They are both considered safe by the WHO and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The work of the "acompañantes" troubles anti-abortion activists in Mexico. One of them, Jahel Torres of a national group called Pasos por la Vida, suggested there were health risks because abortion pills were given by non-medical workers. However, the WHO's guidelines show self-administered abortion as a safe option.

Increased requests

John Seago is president of Right to Life in the U.S. state of Texas. The organization is pushing for new legislation to punish those breaking Texas law by helping¹³ people receive abortions. He said there has yet to be any strong effort to bring legal action against those involved with supplying abortion pills to people who live in Texas.

"Texas simply does not have enough policy tools to efficiently¹⁴ stop these practices," Seago said.

Nathan Cortez is a professor of health law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He said he expected that women in states with abortion bans would consider getting help from outside the U.S.

Las Libres is an organization founded 20 years ago in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, where abortion is still banned. It is led by activist¹ Veronica Cruz. And it began training acompañantes since 2019.

"In January 2022, we had an average of 10 cases every day. When Roe was overturned, in June, we had up to a hundred," Cruz said.

She said the numbers kept rising until they reached 300 requests per day, all from the U.S. The workload¹⁵ was so large for her team of 10 people, so she created new networks to help.

"In one year we created more than 20 networks. We are about 200 people helping only the United States," Cruz said.

Words in This Story

abortion – n. a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of the fetus¹⁶

prescription⁵ – n. a written message from a doctor that officially tells someone to use a medicine or therapy

administer – v. to give (a drug, medicine, or treatment) to someone

efficient – adj. capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy

1 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

4 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

5 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

6 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 roe   

n.鱼卵；獐鹿

参考例句：

• We will serve smoked cod's roe at the dinner.宴会上我们将上一道熏鳕鱼子。
• I'll scramble some eggs with roe?我用鱼籽炒几个鸡蛋好吗？

10 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

11 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

15 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

16 fetus   

n.胎，胎儿

参考例句：

• In the fetus,blood cells are formed in different sites at different ages.胎儿的血细胞在不同时期生成在不同的部位。
• No one knows why a fetus is not automatically rejected by the mother's immune system. 没有人知道为什么母亲的免疫系统不会自动排斥胎儿。