If it weren’t for the city lights and tangled-spaghetti highways, El Paso, at the far western edge of Texas, could be the setting for a scenic science fiction movie: dusty high desert, ringed in mountains. Last May and June, the city pushed through a controversial development proposal slated for that mountainside, close to Franklin Mountains State Park. A mix of local advocacy groups joined in speaking out, including The West Fund, an El Paso-based abortion fund founded in 2013.
“We have been taking up different issues locally,” says President Samantha Romero. “We get pushback from people, like ‘You’re an abortion fund, like stay in your lane.’” But Romero sees reproductive rights advocacy work as something bigger than abortion access. “To me it’s about being able to parent or not parent and, like, in safe and healthy communities,” she says. “The issue of police brutality? It’s a reproductive justice issue. Black moms, black parents are losing their kids.” Romero had an abortion in 2013 at age 24. She was seven weeks pregnant and paid about $1,100 out-of-pocket. At that time, Texas had more than 40 abortion-providing facilities. Today, there are only eight. Two of these are in El Paso. The next closest provider is in San Antonio, more than 500 miles away. People often think of El Paso as the epicenter of immigration. The metropolitan region of El Paso and its Mexican sister city, Ciudad Juárez, are collectively referred to as Paso del Norte, or “northern passage.” But border cities face other problems too, ones that residents say are often overlooked. El Paso has had a doctor shortage for decades, and in 2018 more than a quarter of people under 65 lacked health insurance. For people who are uninsured or struggle to pay premiums, El Paso’s proximity to Mexico becomes a necessary lifeline where they can go to get care for less. This proximity — and its politics — also impact people seeking abortions. Texas laws make abortion a significant financial burden: As of December 2017, private insurance is no longer allowed to cover abortion, except in cases of rape or incest — though it’s unclear how a patient would have to prove one of those crimes had occurred. The West Fund, through private donations, provides about 30 grants each month to people seeking abortions from both West Texas and around Ciudad Juárez, El Paso’s Mexican sister city just across the Rio Grande. Abortion is illegal in Mexico and banned in Texas after 20 weeks. “I feel like my whole life, I’d been mentally preparing for an abortion,” Romero says. “If I couldn’t have access to abortion in the U.S., I would’ve gone to Juárez. Hands down, no question. Would it have been safe? I don’t know.” Romero isn’t the only one who sees Juárez as a medical safety net. Alexis Akle, West Fund’s helpline manager and a communications student at University of Texas at El Paso, sees Juárez as the solution when her insurance plan will run out in a few months. “Once that ends, yeah, I mean I guess my only option is to not get sick,” says Akle, 25. “Go to Planned Parenthood. And then go to Juárez for everything else.” |
She notes that sometimes even with insurance, it’s hard to find care in El Paso due to a lack of doctors here in Texas’ sixth-largest city. Akle’s father is in remission from leukemia, and travels more than 700 miles to Houston to see his oncologist, because there were few specialists closer to home.
El Paso been classified a “health professional shortage area” by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, meaning it has markedly few doctors for the city’s population. Southeast El Paso has had this designation since 1978. Lili Gomez, a UT El Paso graduate student and West Fund volunteer, notes West Texas’s relative lack of doctors often hits undocumented people the hardest. Many Texas highways require all drivers to stop at Border Patrol interior checkpoints. If the checkpoint lies between an undocumented person’s home and the doctor’s office, hospital or abortion clinic, she is discouraged from seeking medical care. This is particularly pertinent for people seeking an abortion after 20 weeks: The closest clinic where that is possible is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the roads to Albuquerque have checkpoints. “You can chance it and put your status here at risk, or chance it and hope that they don’t stop you for secondary check and ask for your papers,” Gomez says. “We — no, not we — our government and Border Patrol have really instilled in people crossing over that it’s either you access care or you stay in hiding and you hope for the best.” |