Roe v. Wade’s 41st Anniversary, Rio Grande Valley Style
On the 41st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling and as anti-choice folks gather around the county to protest a person’s right to choose an abortion, I cannot help to but think of both the young women who have already lost the ability to exercise their constitutional rights and the geographic discrimination happening in Texas.
McAllen, a town on the Texas/Mexico border, is one of those places.
McAllen is the poster child for the over-utilization of health care. As Dr. Atul Gawande’s eye-opening New Yorker story stated, Medicare spends more than $3,000 more per person in McAllen than the national average. His exhaustive piece notes the rampant use of abdominal ultrasounds among other procedures which is rather ironic considering that the state requires all women to have a transvaginal ultrasound and state-scripted lecture in order to have an abortion.
To give you an idea of the bizarre number of medical centers and health related facilities, a quick Google search for medical clinics pulls up 416 listings in McAllen; this compares to only 41 similar clinics in Killeen, a city of comparable population.
While street sign after street sign in the city advertises medical services, the only clinic in McAllen where women could receive abortion care is no longer allowed to offer those services.
But among the many McAllen clinics and doctors, not a single physician is allowed to provide abortion services because none of the required hospital admitting privileges dictated under Texas’ newest anti-choice law, HB2.
This new law is a miscarriage of justice.
For the past 20 years, the McAllen clinic where Whole Woman’s Health Clinic is now located has provided abortion care (WWH has owned the clinic for the last decade). Over the years, area doctors routinely referred their patients to the clinic. When it came time for these same doctors to stand up for their patients and abortion rights, instead they stood silently by and watched hospitals deny privileges to qualified physicians. Maybe they knew their wealthy clients could find a way to Corpus or San Antonio. Perhaps they feared the backlash in a conservative community. The same hospitals that refused admitting privileges to qualified physicians will undoubtedly see an increase of patients presenting with incomplete, self-induced miscarriages.
One in three women will have an abortion at some point in her lifetime. Young women are particularly at risk when faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Due to their lack of experience, teenagers often do risky things. Resources like money or transportation are normally harder for them to come by. On top of it all, here in Texas, in order for a minor to get an abortion, they must have a parent or legal guardian sign off on the procedure.
For an in-depth analysis of what is happening in the Rio Grande Valley and the issues surrounding access, I recommend you read Andrea Grimes’ RHReality piece, “In Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, a Reproductive Health-Care Crisis Goes From Bad to Worse”.
On my drive home from McAllen, on an empty, dusty highway, I was stopped at the border patrol crossing some miles north of McAllen and well within the borders of the United States. I watched the German Shepherd sniffing the black Ford truck in front of me, most likely searching for contraband. And I couldn’t help but think that women seeking abortion care are Texas’ new form of contraband – searched, probed and outlawed by an overreaching government fiat.
– Tina Hester, Executive Director of Jane’s Due Process
Jane’s Due Process is a non-profit working to ensure representation for pregnant minors in the state of Texas. For even more information about what we do visit our website www.janesdueprocess.org or email us at jdprocess@gmail.com.
If you are a pregnant teen in the state of Texas and want more information about your rights and options call our hotline at (866) 999-5263.
El aborto sigue siendo legal en TX. Nuestros servicios para menores de edad son confidenciales y gratis. Estamos aqui para ayudarte. 866-WWW-JANE (999-5263).
