The clinic in McAllen strives to meet the needs of people of many backgrounds and situations amid a drop in patients after the state’s Senate Bill 8 abortion restrictions went into effect.
Since the law passed, clinics statewide have experienced its chilling effect, reporting that they have performed fewer abortions. “What we’ve heard patients say is that they just go to the pharmacy in Mexico, which is literally just walk-in, and the pharmacist will just give you the medication,” she said. Misoprostol, initially approved as an ulcer medication, is available there without a prescription. Mifepristone is not.
For the past few months, Hernandez estimates, around six of the weekly average of 25 patients who come to the Whole Woman’s clinic will find out they are past the sixth week of pregnancy. If they want an abortion, they face either an 800-mile drive to the nearest out-of-state provider, in New Mexico, or a quick day trip to Mexico.
Also complicating the decision for many pregnant people are the deep roots of religion in the Valley’s culture, said Carla Angulo-Pasel, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. The Texas law has made it nearly impossible to get abortions quietly. It’s common for noncitizens to seek help from the clinic. Around 100,000 people who are in the U.S. without legal documentation live in Hidalgo County, the Valley’s largest county, which includes McAllen. Some residents feel confined to the area because just an hour’s drive north stands a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, in the Texas city of Falfurrias. The clinic also serves immigrants, including teenagers, from Central America who were raped on their way north, Hernandez said.