The clinics are few, but there are many patients, which has led to many women being forced to seek care beyond their state borders.
Choices in Memphis is a clinic that performs both surgical and medical abortions, something that is also not common in the southern United States.
When SVT Nyheter visits the clinic, there are cars with license plates from Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and Georgia.
- Abortions do not end just because you make access difficult, says Jennifer Pepper, operations manager at Choices.
"Is there a stigma"
The Texas Heartbeat Act is one of the strictest abortion laws to date in the United States.
Abortion has been banned from week six and the state has also introduced a kind of reporting system.
Anyone, anywhere, can sue healthcare professionals or other people who know about a procedure.
It can be anything from a doctor, friends or a taxi driver who drove a patient to a clinic.
Several instances have tried to repeal this new law which came into force from September this year, and the wording of the law is up in the Supreme Court.
But so far, abortion has stopped all over Texas and women are moving further and further away from their hometowns.
- Patients I meet try to justify why they want an abortion.
It feels like they are telling both to justify the environment but also to themselves because there is a stigma, says Sue, who only wants to participate with her nickname.
According to Tennessee law, doctors must read these points to their patients who wish to have an abortion.
The list consists of a total of ten items.
Photo: Mikael Eriksson / SVT
Strict rules in Tennessee
Although Tennessee is not a liberal state when it comes to abortion rights, the Memphis Clinic receives patients from several nearby states.
- At the first doctor's visit, you must do an ultrasound and then the law requires the doctor to turn the screen so that it is visible to the patient and that you turn on the heart sound.
The patient can look away, says Jennifer Pepper.
In addition, a list consisting of ten points must be read out word for word.
It states, among other things, about the risks and benefits of abortion and the completion of a pregnancy.
Thereafter, the patient must wait for 48 hours.
- The procedure itself, if you do it surgically, can take four to six minutes, so in practice we could help a patient in one day.
But now with these rules it will be a longer process, and so will travel and accommodation for many.