The Underground Abortion Railroad

[TBF]

Together, these organizations create a type of underground abortion railroad for women facing life altering events if they can't come up with the money for a standard, safe medical procedure.

With only 10 abortion clinics left in Texas and no government assistance for women looking to have the procedure, a network of small volunteer groups have created a system to help women get abortions—$50 bucks and a bus voucher at a time.

Riding the Rails of the Underground Abortion Railroad from Texas to New Mexico
by Taylor Prewitt
Feb 6, 2016

Four weeks after Isabel, a 22-year-old unemployed student, missed her last period, she tried to induce a miscarriage. Going off a instructions she found on the internet, Isabel took 500 mg of vitamin C once every hour alongside varying amounts of dong quai, black cohosh, and blue cohosh once every four hours, plus the occasional parsley tea, and a handful of organic sprigs of parsley fit snugly near her cervix. It seemed like a long shot but with no savings and no means to come up with an extra $610 to pay for an abortion at the Dallas Planned Parenthood, she kept the herbs and tincture routine for 20 days. When they failed to work, she resorted to working odd jobs, selling her guitar, and donating plasma. Twice a week, throughout the majority of her pregnancy, she lied to the plasma donation center about her condition to secure $40 bucks toward her own personal abortion fund. The process wasn't painful, but it did leave her extra nauseated. By the time Isabel was able to secure the $610 needed for the procedure, too much time had gone by. Her pregnancy had advanced to 19 weeks, pushing to the $2,500 dollar mark.

"I knew that if I couldn't afford to have an abortion in time, I would be forced to continue to be pregnant and to give birth when I never want to do either of those things," she told me over email. "I know I would have wanted to kill myself."

If Isabel lived in Massachusetts or California, she could have enrolled in Medicaid, making her eligible for state funding and making an abortion financially feasible well before the 12 week period when costs begin to increase exponentially. But Isabel lives in Texas. A state where more than 2.4 million women live in poverty and as many live without health insurance, Isabel's experiences are hardly atypical. In addition to legislation that has left just 10 abortion clinics within a 268,820 square mile region, Texas is one of 32 states that does not allow state Medicaid insurance to fund abortion procedures ...

Much more here: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/riding-the-rails-of-the-underground-abortion-railroad-from-texas-to-new-mexico

TEA Fund: http://www.teafund.org/
Lilith Fund: https://www.lilithfund.org/
West Fund: http://www.westfund.org/

[Dustlawyer]

1. I am ashamed at the ignorance and hypocrasy in my state.

Too many "Good Christians" I suppose. No empathy, even for the kids born who would have been aborted. They become "moochers" upon birth, no longer "precious."

[es35]

4. You're not gonna believe what the xian fascists are up to in the state of florida

Atheist alert: write your representatives about what religious fascist pols in Florida are trying to do.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Lois Frankel <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 2:45 PM
Subject: C-R-A-Z-Y
To: eric stone <[e-mail]>


eric – you’re not going to believe this. Republicans in the Florida state legislature are trying to pass a bill that would criminalize a woman’s right to choose and make abortion punishable by 30 years in prison! I am appalled and disgusted.

Roe v. Wade guarantees a woman’s legal right to an abortion. They shouldn’t have to ask for permission from a politician to not go through with a pregnancy.

Add your name to condemn the Florida GOP’s backwards legislation.

The right to choose is a medical decision – and the only other person a woman should consult is her doctor. The Republicans in Tallahassee have no right – constitutional or otherwise – to interfere with a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions. Period.

This bill will put the lives and livelihoods of Florida women and children in danger, and we cannot allow the Florida GOP to get away with it.

Click here to join me in condemning this repulsive piece of legislation.

Always,

[PoiBoy]

2. Another excellent article here...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/magazine/the-dawn-of-the-post-clinic-abortion.html

I found it to be very informative.... and I wonder how these movements are doing now.

[TBF]

3. Thank you - I hadn't seen that

now I wonder how many other places in the world have the same issues and less than ideal fixes.

This is one area in which Canada has done a fantastic job in that it is a medical decision between a woman & her doctor (and most are done early because there are no impediments) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Canada
(although I should add that there are anti-choice folks there as well)