While the right to abortion disappears in the United States, it was decriminalized in Mexico last September. The country has become a land of welcome for American women who want to terminate their pregnancy. In Monterrey, they are supported by Vanessa Jimenez and Sandra Cardona two activists who created the association “Necesito Abortar” (“I have to abort”).
Jane had no desire to have a child. She had been using contraception for ten years but two months ago it didn’t work. Seven weeks pregnant, she began to panic: her gynecologist explained to her that it was too late to have an abortion in Laredo, Texas, where she lives. He told her to go somewhere else, 1000 kilometers away. Much too far for Jane. While searching for alternative solutions on the web, she discovered the existence of Vanessa Jimenez and Sandra Cardona. These two activists created the association “Necesito Abortar” (“I have to abort”).
Read also: Legalization of abortion: while the United States retreats, Sierra Leone advances
As they are based in Monterrey, Mexico, just two hours away, Jane reached out to them via WhatsApp messaging. “When I saw her arrive with her mother, getting out of the bus, she was in tears, Vanessa remembers today. I reassured her by telling her that with us, she ran no risk, and explained to her the techniques of medical abortion of which she had no idea because in the United States, it is above all surgical abortion that we practice. She was surprised when I told her that this method had recently been approved by the World Health Organization. After a tablet of Mifepristone (RU 486) and four others of Misoprostol, the case was settled.”
Vanessa Jimenez is often forced to explain to her American patients that medical abortion is a proven and effective method.
© EVA SAKELLARIDES / PARIS MATCH
Jane is not the real first name of the young woman in question who is afraid of not testifying openly. She’s too scared of losing her job, seeing anti-abortion protesters march past her door, being kicked out of her community, paying a multi-thousand dollar fine, or even being arrested as it happened. recently to Lizelle Herrera, a 26-year-old Texan, who was charged with murder, before the court dropped the charges.
Read also: From New York to California, a promise of “sanctuaries” for abortion
Like Jane, more and more Americans are traveling to Mexico to terminate their pregnancies. “On June 24, the day the U.S. Supreme Court terminated the Roe vs. Wade, we received 70 phone calls, notes Sandra Cardona. This week, we will receive the visit of six women. For a simple reason: at a time when America is retreating on abortion, the very Catholic and conservative Mexico is advancing.
Vanessa and Sandra have transformed one of the rooms in their apartment into a soothing waiting room.
© EVA SAKELLARIDES / PARIS MATCH
Last September, the Mexican Supreme Court decriminalized abortion at the federal level, the result of long-term fieldwork by activists like Vanessa and Sandra. These two progressive women, who married in 2010 as soon as gay marriage was legalized in Mexico City, are at the heart of a galaxy of activists led by Veronica Cruz Sanchez, founder of “Las Libres”, an association for the defense of womens rights.
Thanks to the private donations they receive, they distribute free of charge the drugs necessary for medical abortion, which costs twenty times less in Mexico than in the United States, and is much easier to access (in particular Misoprostol, over-the-counter while a prescription is needed on the American side). They also contribute, in all discretion, to the distribution of these drugs to American states where abortion is now illegal.
A grateful woman sent them a cat who now lives with Sandra and Vanessa. .
© EVA SAKELLARIDES / PARIS MATCH
In their apartment located in a quiet area of Monterrey, they have transformed a room on the second floor into a reception room called “La Arboteria”, to allow their “patients” to collect themselves before taking action, to pose questions and calm their anxieties. Inside, it’s a bit like a shrink’s living room: there’s a sofa, a table, a seat so they can consult their laptop. “What worried Jane was whether these drugs would prevent her from sleeping or eating. I reassured her,” says Vanessa.
Sandra and Vanessa got married in 2010 as soon as gay marriage was legalized in Mexico City
© EVA SAKELLARIDES / PARIS MATCH
Two weeks after having the abortion, Jane called to give some news and, above all, to ask for advice regarding her gynecologist. She was afraid that he would report her to the authorities. “I just told her that she had to go see another doctor and pretend that she had the most legal abortion in the world, and that was it,” Vanessa confides. She adds: “I fight for women, whether American or Mexican, to have access to abortion. They thank us by sending us letters, chocolates and even a cat, who lives with us! And when I see them smiling again when they arrived in tears, it gives me the strength to continue.