August 2021. The news falls like a chopper: Hayley, 31, discovers that she is pregnant.
An unwanted pregnancy.
For this journalist who lives in Austin, Texas, only one solution is possible: abortion.
But in this large, very conservative, religious state, and where "pro-life" associations - depending on the term they use - are particularly influential, terminating a pregnancy is an obstacle course.
Strict regulations, complicated procedures, lack of doctors… there are many obstacles.
Above all, for Hayley, these difficulties come with a race against time.
The young woman has less than a month before the Texas government adopts one of the most restrictive laws in the United States on access to abortion.
From September 1, it will prohibit the termination of a pregnancy once the heartbeat of the embryo is detected, around six weeks, including for victims of rape and incest.
A very short period, which means, concretely, that women must end their pregnancy even though many of them are still unaware of being pregnant.
"Within a week, I couldn't have had an abortion," says Hayley.
"This period was the most agonizing of my life. This pregnancy was the product of an abusive relationship. There was no way I could keep this child."
“Everything is done to dissuade us from having an abortion”
Even before the adoption of this new law, Senate Bill 8 (SB8), Texas has always shown itself as one of the most resistant states to abortion, multiplying the regulations.
Direct consequence: doctors capable of performing voluntary terminations of pregnancy (IVG) are sorely lacking.
For Hayley, the first big difficulty was to find an appointment.
"I spent several days calling clinics. But, to make matters worse, we were in the midst of the Covid-19 epidemic, so many were refusing to take patients," she explains.
In total, it takes him almost three weeks to have the first of three mandatory appointments.
"One is used to date the beginning of pregnancy, the other is a mandatory appointment with a psychologist and,
Finally, there is abortion.
All this must always be spaced out by several days”, she explains.
Then there is another concern: paying for abortion, an operation excluded from private health coverage and by the Medicaid system, health insurance for people in precarious situations.
"I had a few days to find $600. And you can't spread out the payments," she recalls.
She manages to collect the sum thanks to friends and associations.
Hayley finally goes to a clinic in Austin at the end of August to undergo the abortion.
"It was a nightmare," she says.
She remembers, first, her arrival in the establishment, under the boos of anti-abortion demonstrators.
"Throughout the procedure, things are done to try to dissuade us from having an abortion," she says.
"For example, I was read a document that explained to me that, since I am over 30, I might be losing my last chance to have a baby."
Texas law obliges doctors to alert patients to a possible decline in fertility and an increased risk of breast cancer for those who have had an abortion.
Risks, however, ruled out by numerous scientific studies.
The regulations also require all patients to have an ultrasound just before the procedure.
“In my case, I was sure of myself, but I don't want to imagine what a woman can feel who wants children but for whom it is not the right time…”, laments Hayley.
However, the young woman considers herself "very lucky".
"Today, with the new law, I couldn't have an abortion," she explains.
"I would never have found an appointment in time and I would never have been able to raise the money in such a short time."
According to data from the American Planned Parenthood, more than 85% of women who have abortions in the country do so after six weeks of pregnancy.
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Reporters © France 24
"I feel like I'm living in a dystopia"
When Tom* moved to South Texas three years ago, his ambition was to help patients like Hayley.
"When I started working, no place was more complicated than here to have an abortion. That's why I decided to come and settle here. I wanted to make myself useful", says this doctor from 34 years old, specializing in abortions, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
"Working in Texas has always been a challenge. But before, it was very rewarding. I felt like I was making a difference and the patients were very grateful," he says.
But since September, frustration has taken over.
"It has become almost impossible to do my job. I have the impression of living in a dystopia", he laments.
He no longer counts the women who come to his office and to whom he is obliged to refuse an abortion because they have exceeded the legal deadline.
"I remember this patient who had to travel nine hours just to come and see me. She didn't have a clinic closer to her home," he says.
"She was eight weeks pregnant. The best I could do was explain to her that she had to drive five more hours out of state and have an abortion somewhere else…She kept the child."
Stories like these, Tom "could tell hundreds".
"There was also this woman, of Mexican origin, in an irregular situation. She was afraid to leave Texas. She did not do so for fear of being arrested and being brought back to the border," he continues. -he.
"And this 14-year-old girl… They and her mother had traveled three hours to come and see me, in secret from the father. When I told them I couldn't do anything, there was panic. They ended up going to the Mexico leaving a large part of the family savings there."
"Fortunately, sometimes it's not too late!" said the doctor, smiling.
"I remember a 45-year-old woman who got pregnant when she thought she couldn't be anymore. She already had two grown children and didn't want a baby. She was so relieved!"
If he broke the law, Tom could lose his doctor's license.
Texas law also provides for "compensation" of 10,000 dollars to a citizen who initiates legal proceedings and wins against a person involved in an illegal abortion.
Aborting elsewhere, a costly and complicated solution
Faced with these difficulties, an increasing number of women are trying to have an abortion in another state.
However, this solution is very expensive and often difficult to implement.
Before September, the association Fund Texas Choice, which helps women in this process, received between 40 and 50 calls per month.
From now on, the line is continuously saturated.
“We receive around 300 calls each month. We manage to help around 100 people,” laments, by telephone, Jaylynn Far Munson, communication manager for the association.
Concretely, Fund Texas Choice helps candidates for abortion who contact them to navigate through all the logistical procedures: "We find the plane or bus tickets, we reserve the hotel room, we make the appointments -you, and if necessary, we find a childcare solution…”, Jaylynn list.
"Thanks to donations from individuals, we also finance the entire trip. However, the patients must pay for the procedure itself."
"In total, for the trip, it takes between 500 and 2,000 dollars, depending on the destination," she explains.
"In the best case, the abortion costs 500 dollars, but in the case of late pregnancy, for example, it can go up to 2,500."
Of all the people who follow one another on the line, the head of the association is particularly touched by the many women in an irregular situation.
"Often they don't speak English well and are unable to navigate through all the administrative paperwork," she laments.
"We have to send them to a place they don't know. Sometimes it's the first time they've gotten on a plane, and they find themselves on their own. We don't realize the load psychological that this entails."
According to a study by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, a group of university researchers studying the consequences of SB8, approximately 5,600 women traveled to one of the seven states closest to Texas – New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas and Mississippi – to abort there between September and December 2021.
The American Planned Parenthood estimates that the number of abortions in Texas has been halved since September.
On the other hand, in Colorado and Oklahoma, the number of patients originating from this State would represent half of the total of abortions between September 1 and December 31, against 10% the previous year.
“It put enormous pressure on the establishments that perform abortions in these areas,” explains Jaylyn.
The consequence: ever longer delays in obtaining an appointment.
"Before, it took about a week. Now it can be up to a month. And four weeks, when you're pregnant with an unwanted pregnancy, is a very long time."
Suspending the Roe vs Wade stoppage would have "a catastrophic domino effect
From now on, patients will have to deal with a new obstacle.
Since May 26, Oklahoma has in turn decided to drastically harden its access to abortion, by prohibiting it "from fertilization".
In other words: completely.
"It's dramatic," says Jaylynn.
“Not only will all the women we send to Oklahoma have to go even further, but in addition, Oklahoma patients will also have to go elsewhere for abortions. There is always more pressure on establishments that still perform abortions. “, she saddens.
Today, Jaylynn finds it difficult to hide her worry for the future.
In addition to Oklahoma, the Politico site revealed on May 2 that the Supreme Court was considering suspending the Roe vs. Wade judgment, which theoretically guarantees access to abortion at the federal level since 1973. Without this judgment, 26 States, including many in the South, would immediately ban abortion.
A "disaster scenario" but which is only "a matter of time", she fears.
“We will then witness a catastrophic domino effect,” she warns.
The association has already begun to prepare for it.
"We will have to send the women to Mexico, or even to New York. Depending on the budgets we have drawn up, this will roughly halve the total number of women we can help."
"The worst part of all this is that this situation will only serve to make precarious people ever more precarious," denounces Tom.
"People who can will always find solutions to have an abortion. Others can't afford to spend thousands of dollars on an abortion. The problem is that they can't afford to have another abortion either. child."
However, precarious people are the first to be affected by the problem.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, an organization specializing in sexual and reproductive rights, 75% of people who have abortions in the United States are in a precarious situation.
In addition, 60% come from African-American or Hispanic communities.
Towards an explosion of home abortions
Faced with the difficulty of moving to another state and increasingly strict regulations across the country, reproductive health experts predict that more and more women will turn to System D. In addition to the practice of "home techniques" gleaned from the Internet and very often dangerous, doctors expect a surge in the purchase of abortion pills online.
Today, medical abortion is the most widely used technique in the United States.
The Federal Medicines Agency authorizes it, in theory, up to ten weeks of pregnancy and allows doctors to prescribe it by teleconsultation.
But in more conservative states, like Texas, medical abortion is subject to the same regulations and timelines as traditional suction surgery.
To circumvent the law, some women therefore turn to online pharmacies based abroad.
A normally illegal process.
According to a study published at the end of February, in September 2021, the Danish online pharmacy Aid Access, which offers the postage of abortion pills, received 1,831 requests.
Three times more than the same period in 2020. "Fortunately, these procedures are quite safe and effective. But for many women, to do this without accompaniment, in secret, can be very scary", laments Tom.
After weeks of hesitation, Tom finally decided to leave Texas.
"I can't work in these conditions anymore. I'm going to a more progressive state, where I could really help," he explains.
"And I'm not the only one. Many of my colleagues have the same dilemma, between staying to help those we still can, or leaving where we can help many more."
For her part, Hayley now attends all demonstrations in defense of the right to abortion, camera around her neck, slogan in hand.
“In these demonstrations, speech is freed, the taboo of abortion is lifted and we realize that it is not only a question of us, but also of our sisters, our friends, our parents. Anyone, one day, may need an abortion," she says.
And to conclude: "We must at all costs defend this fundamental right."
*Name has been changed
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