May 4, 2024
CHIHUAHUA, Mexico (AP) — Marcela Castro’s office in Chihuahua is more than 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, yet the distance doesn’t prevent her from assisting women in the United States in circumventing recently imposed bans on abortion.
Castro and her colleagues provide shipments of abortion pills for women who want to terminate pregnancies on their own.
“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.”
Castro and her colleagues are “acompañantes” offering online guidance to women seeking abortions.
More than 30 women collaborate with Castro in Marea Verde Chihuahua. They are part of what she calls a binational network, bringing together several Mexican collectives willing to facilitate self-managed abortions in the U.S.
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 being distributed by non-medical personnel.
John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life, said there has yet to be any intensive effort to prosecute people involved in supplying abortion pills to Texas residents.
“Texas simply does not have enough policy tools to efficiently stop these practices," Seago said. His organization is pushing for new legislation, he added “so that those breaking Texas law by aiding and abetting abortion digitally or physically will be held accountable.”
