A woman in El Paso would have to make a 1,300-mile round trip to San Antonio or cross the border into Mexico, and the AP notes the court found the latter option OK. “Although the nearest abortion facility in Texas is 550 miles away from El Paso, there is evidence that women in El Paso can travel the short distance to Santa Teresa (in Mexico) to obtain an abortion and, indeed, the evidence is that many did just that,” the court wrote.
The story summarizes the 5th Circuit Court’s decision to uphold the state’s right to enforce hospital building codes on abortion clinics, thereby eliminating many.
Let’s not tell them that Santa Teresa isn’t really Mexico.
Here’s what actually happens to women just across the border in Mexico who get abortions (which are mostly illegal in Juarez). Diario de Juarez has been reporting for the past week that one woman who did a DIY with a helper got arrested and charged with the crime of abortion–it carries prison penalty. The helper got an even more serious charge, and today’s paper reports in Spanish that she just had the crap beat out of her in jail. Santa Teresa, Juarez: who cares when it comes to US courts? It’s just a bunch of poor Latina women, after all.