As anti-abortion laws pop up across the US, Mexican activists are helping Americans access free abortions

• More states across the US have approved highly restrictive anti-abortion bills.
• Americans seeking abortions are turning to Mexico to get medication shipped to them.

The US is in the midst of an anti-abortion crusade — an unprecedented number of anti-abortion bills have been approved or are being considered by state legislatures across the country. Last fall, Texas passed SB8, which bans abortion after six weeks (before many even know they are pregnant), among other draconian measures. That law set off a chain of copycat bills across the Midwest and the South.

At the same time, massive protests, led by grassroots feminist movements, in Latin America have helped push historically Catholic countries to decriminalize abortion — Argentina in 2020, Mexico in 2021, and, most recently, Colombia in February.

As these divergent abortion-rights trajectories continue, Americans have begun looking south of the border to Mexican activists for help in filling the ever-growing gaps in abortion access in the US.

Mexican activists are using the 'accompaniment model' to help Americans

Prior to decriminalization, Mexican abortion activists learned to navigate perilous legislative terrain to get individuals access to care, according to Caitlin Gerdts, vice president of research at Ibis Reproductive Health.

"Abortion accompaniment" groups began in the 1980s in Brazil through whisper networks and have since spread throughout Latin America. They've evolved from in-person abortion accompaniment to using online tools like WhatsApp to deliver abortion pills and provide emotional support during self-managed abortions.

Mexican activists are now using the accompaniment model to help Americans. Verónica Cruz, the founder of the group Las Libres in Guanajuato, Mexico, told Insider her organization has helped hundreds of Americans access abortion since the beginning of 2022.

When SB8 passed in Texas, Las Libres reached out to pro-abortion organizations there. In subsequent months, Cruz said word spread to states considering similar anti-abortion bills, with the number of people turning to Mexico for abortion aid "snowballing."

Las Libres is sending abortion pills to people's homes in the US and providing text, phone, and video support through the entire abortion experience. The group sends pills free of charge, which cost an average of $551 in the US, not accounting for potential travel costs to get the pills.

Despite the potential legal implications they face, including jail time, Cruz said she and her organization are motivated by the belief that "this is a human-rights issue and all people have the right to healthcare."

Las Libres is not the only group stepping up to help. Activist Juana Libertad at Las Confidentas, an accompaniment group in Tijuana, Mexico, told Insider that organizations across Mexico are meeting in May to discuss how to increase outreach to Americans. Libertad said her goal is to get the word out to more people that they can have a safe and supported medication abortion for 500 Mexican pesos, or $25.

Americans have also been obtaining abortion pills from online delivery services such as the Austrian-based nonprofit Aid Access — which has seen a 174% increase in requests from Texas since the passage of SB8 — for $105. As outreach efforts increase and knowledge spreads, seeking help from Mexico could become a more desirable option, given the lower costs at pharmacies and free shipments from activists.

Turning to Mexico for abortion is not new

What's happening between the US and Mexico is history repeating itself.

Before Roe v. Wade made abortion a constitutional right, "Mexico was a lifeline" for Americans, the historian Gillian Frank told Insider. His research looks at how "a rising body count from backstreet abortions" in the early-20th century led to Christian clergy in the US mobilizing to help get women to Mexico.

Medical tourism to Mexico was so organized and established, Frank said that "all-inclusive travel packages" — which sometimes provided shuttles to and from the airport and snacks for guests at hotels — were common.

Activists are shipping pills to people seeking abortions

Going to Mexico for abortion care in the 1950s and 1960s involved thousands of dollars in travel costs and physical risk, but developments in abortifacient medication in recent years have streamlined the process, making it not only more affordable but also safer in many cases.

Now many abortion-seekers don't need to leave their homes, since pills can be shipped directly to them.

Some Americans are picking up the pills themselves during vacations in Mexico. "I heard you could get misoprostol much easier in Latin America in general, and I wanted to try," one Texas woman, who asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons, told Insider. She said she bought the pills at a pharmacy during a trip to Cozumel, no questions asked, for around $20.

While the terms "illegal abortion" or "at-home abortion" may evoke images of death and danger, self-managed abortion with an accompaniment model is "equally effective and safe" as abortion in clinical settings, as Gerdts and her research team found in a recent study.

But while underground channels can provide a lifeline to some people seeking abortions, it's not a catchall solution. Surgical abortion methods are medically needed in many cases — including ectopic fertilization and later gestation — and many low-income women will still not be able to access this kind of care.