Texas abortion clinic limits force women to resort to home-made recipes or pills bought in Mexico to end pregnancies

New study reveals that since the HB2 law went into effect in 2013 between 100,000 and 240,000 women aged 18 to 49 have attempted to self-induce abortion without a doctor’s supervision

The HB2 law has been hugely controversial in Texas, with public protests from both sides of the debate. Activists in the state (pictured) opposed the law’s introduction in 2013 (AP)

A law in Texas which is lauded by conservatives and has caused scores of abortion clinics across the state to shut up shop is forcing women in ever-greater numbers to seek to end their pregnancies on their own with homebrew remedies or pills bought without prescriptions in Mexico, a new study has revealed.

Released just days after the US Supreme Court said it would hear a challenge to provisions in the Texas law, known as HB2, the study concludes that since it went into effect in 2013 between 100,000 and 240,000 women aged 18 to 49 have attempted to self-induce abortion without a doctor’s supervision. In the first study of its kind, the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, TxPEP, run by the University of Texas, concluded that as many as one in every 25 women in the state had sought to end pregnancies at home.

Some turned to untested and mostly ineffective concoctions of teas, vitamins and in some case even crushed roots. Others crossed into Mexico to buy pills manufactured to trigger miscarriages.

The report, which also includes excerpts of interviews with some of the subjects who acknowledged trying to terminate their own pregnancies, says that in most cases women were not able to get to an abortion clinic because those still open were too far away.

“Poverty, limited resources, and local facility closures limited women’s ability to obtain abortion care in a clinic setting and were key factors in deciding to attempt abortion self-induction,” the study concludes. A disproportionate number of the women were Latina and living close the Mexican border.

“It started off slow and... went from zero to 60 real quick and it was just like really painful, intense cramping,” one 24-year-old living near the Mexican border said of her experience taking the miscarriage pill. “It was the worst cramping I’ve ever had and probably one of the worst pains I’ve gone through.”

In common with other subjects, the woman spoke of her confusion afterwards over whether the pill had worked or not, particularly “as to how much bleeding is too much bleeding, you know, or that, there’s always that slight uncertainty of like I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

The report paints a depressing picture of lonely, terrified women desperate not to bear a child but uncertain of the risks of what they are doing.

“I just wanted something to work. I didn’t want to have to spend the money again,” a 26-year-old from the city of Corpus Christi said.

“I didn’t want to have to do the drive. Not to mention, you know, I don’t have other family. My family lives out of country so I’m stuck in this town by myself.”

Pro-choice activists say provisions of the law have made it a lot more difficult for abortion clinics to operate in Texas (Alamy)

In many cases, women who can’t tell if they have been successful are afraid to go to a doctor to find out, in case they are accused of wrongdoing.

“I read something, you know, that you’re not supposed to do an abortion outside the clinic or you’ll go to jail or something,” one 26-year-old said.

“I was really scared to go back to a doctor and tell them that I wasn’t pregnant anymore. So I had to go just to double check, you know, if it all came out.”

Adopted by the Republican-controlled state legislature in Austin against the loud protests of Democrats and advocates of a woman’s right to choose, the HB2 law includes provisions that its supporters say are directed merely at protecting patients by imposing new and stringent medical standards on abortion clinics. But critics say the real effect of the law is to make it far harder for abortion clinics to operate.

Already in place are provisions requiring abortion providers to have patient admission privileges at a hospital not more than 30 miles away, in theory ensuring that emergency help is there for patients in case a procedure goes awry. But medical experts say that it is extremely rare. As a consequence, the number of abortion clinics in Texas has fallen from 42 before the law’s passage to 19 today. Additional provisions before the Supreme Court could cut that further to just nine clinics if upheld – in a state that is bigger than England and France combined.

This important new research paints an alarming picture of what the future may be like for women across America if the Supreme Court does not block this cruel law

&#13; <p>Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America</p>&#13;

“Texas women are forced to go to multiple and unnecessary visits at clinics that are now farther away, take more days off of work, losing income, find childcare and arrange and pay for transportation for hundreds of miles,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, chief executive of Whole Woman’s Health, the lead plaintiff in the challenge that was accepted by the Supreme Court.

With its surprising statistics, the TxPEP study could become a key element in arguments before the court. “This important new research paints an alarming picture of what the future may be like for women across the country if the Supreme Court does not block this cruel law,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said.

The survey team polled 779 women directly. But because of inevitable underreporting of an experience that many still consider shameful or taboo, the team also asked each of the respondents if they knew of anyone else, like a best friend, who had also attempted to end their pregnancies alone. Taken together, the responses led to the conclusion that 4.1 per cent women in the state had done so.

None of the subjects had attempted anything that endangered their lives. But the researchers noted that a separate research project they had conducted last year in Texas revealed evidence of some women taking more drastic and dangerous steps, including delivering severe blows to the stomach.