New Mexico abortion clinics see influx from Texas
Dial the hotline for the National Abortion Federation, and the first recorded message you will hear features a woman’s voice, asking if the caller is from Texas.
The federation, founded in the late 1970s, recently set up a special hotline for women from Texas looking for legal abortion services after a new law took effect Sept. 1, prohibiting the procedure after cardiac activity is detected in an embryo, or around six weeks of pregnancy.
Neta Meltzer, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, called the new Texas Heartbeat Act a “virtual complete ban,” largely because most women don’t realize they are pregnant as soon as six weeks. She cited Texas’ 24-hour mandatory waiting period as another barrier to women legally ending a pregnancy before a heartbeat is discovered.