Texas’s border-crossing abortion coyotes
In the span of two years, the number of abortion clinics in Texas has dropped from 44 to 17, with the possibility of another drop to seven, pending a 5th Circuit panel’s decision on whether the state can impose clinic regulations on abortion clinics and force abortionists to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
At issue is whether trying to make abortion clinics and abortionists follow the same health and safety guidelines as legitimate healthcare facilities and doctors places an “undue burden” on women seeking an abortions.
“Undue burden”… that elusive and undefined term thrown into the judicial abortion morass by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v Casey decision.
Left to decide for themselves, liberal judges have pounced upon the term to overturn all kinds of pro-life laws, while strict constructionist judges have ruled oppositely. As Politico recently reported, the resulting “patchwork of contradictory rulings” may finally force the Supremes to tighten their verbiage – or nix it.
Meanwhile, even with only seven abortion clinics, 83% of Texas women, or five of six, would still live within 150 miles of a Texas abortion clinic. Does that place an undue burden?
State borders became an issue in Mississippi last year, when a different 5th Circuit panel ruled that shutting down the state’s last abortion clinic, whether or not there were clinics nearby in neighboring states, would place an “undue burden” on women.
Hence, abortion proponents are pushing a story line that procuring an abortion at an out-of-state clinic, which may, in fact, be closer for a woman than an in-state clinic, is fraught with intrigue and difficulty.
So, some abortion zealots have begun to take on the role of abortion coyotes, as the Feminist Majority Blog dramatically reported…
“Coyote” is the term for people who smuggle illegals across the Mexican border into the U.S. And they now have abortion counterparts. Reported FMB:
Texas abortion clinics have been under attack in recent years, significantly reducing women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health care…. As a result, abortion rights advocates are increasingly helping women seeking an abortion travel from Texas to neighboring New Mexico….
Whole Woman’s Health successfully opened a clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico last fall, just 50 miles away from El Paso, Texas. “Going into Las Cruces felt like a really smart thing to do on behalf of the women of west Texas and south Texas so that they could have an option no matter what,” [clinic owner Amy] Hagstrom Miller continued.
Abortion coyotes would have us believe that getting a woman 50 miles from El Paso to Las Cruces is laden with more hardship and expense than taking them 1,100 miles to San Antonio.
If crossing state borders for abortions is so awful, you’d think abortion proponents would support the federal Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which would ban nonparental adults from trafficking minors across state lines for abortion without parental authorization.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Good heavens I never realized crossing state borders was so fraught with intrigue and danger. Is there some reason these women can’t cross state lines by themselves? I’ve done it more times than I could ever guess, often by myself, and I can assure you it involves little more than a sign telling you that you are entering another state..and you may have to start paying tolls.
“Does that place an undue burden?”
Some of the parents probably traveled farther than that to meet up with each other and make the baby.
Good heavens I never realized crossing state borders was so fraught with intrigue and danger.
It isn’t. The allegory to coyotes is silly and unsupported by the evidence, and the allegation that anyone is saying that “procuring an abortion at an out-of-state clinic…is fraught with intrigue and difficulty.” or that “getting a woman 50 miles from El Paso to Las Cruces is laden with more hardship and expense than taking them 1,100 miles to San Antonio” is false.
Don’t take my word for it–read the article.
LisaC,
Exactly. Read the post.
..”As a result, abortion rights advocates are increasingly helping women seeking an abortion travel from Texas to neighboring New Mexico..
“Activists are helping women cross state lines for abortion care”.
I agree these statements by the Feminist Majority Blog are dramatic and silly, which is what I was making fun of.
”As a result, abortion rights advocates are increasingly helping women seeking an abortion travel from Texas to neighboring New Mexico.. “Activists are helping women cross state lines for abortion care”.
These are statements of fact, relevant because state lines are becoming one of the determinants of abortion access (If you’ve missed news of this trend, there are plenty of places where you can catch up). The “intrigue and danger” are things that Jill fabricated, possibly because it allowed for a convenient connection between pregnant women and a group of people (undocumented migrants) that many on this board appear to despise.
The claim that abortion activists “would have us believe that getting a woman 50 miles from El Paso to Las Cruces is laden with more hardship and expense than taking them 1,100 miles to San Antonio” is simply false.
The silliness and drama originate in this blog post, not with the Feminist Majority post.
LisaC,
Jill fabricated nothing. I told you I was making fun of the FMB and their statements. I suspect that is what Jill is doing as well.
I’m well aware of state lines and abortion. There have always been state lines affecting access to any number of things. People somehow managed to cross them and access what they want. In my earlier years it was to access legal drinking.
I still say this is a lot of drama and silliness. What they need “activists” for when the woman can just google the nearest clinic and get in her car and go or catch a ride with someone is beyond me.
I live in El Paso, Texas and work at New Mexico State University in Las Cruses, New Mexico. I have made the “burdensome” 35 minute interstate commute 5 days a week for 14 years. Just the same as a lot of NMSU students do. Outside of an occasional road construction slow down I have never had a problem. Crossing “the boarder” only means I-10 goes from a 2 lane freeway to 3 lanes. One can even take a bus for just $3.00.
http://dot.state.nm.us/content/dam/nmdot/ParkNRide/ParkandRideSouthernRoutes.pdf
Ha!
Tommy R, are you telling us that you’ve been crossing state lines all these years without the help of “activists”?
Mary, My wife and I commute together and since she usually drives I guess that makes her the coyote. I am sure she will be thrilled with the news. :)