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Mexico City, Mexico – In the midst of a global pandemic crisis, 26-year-old journalist Maria Muñoz is facing an unintended pregnancy in Mexico City. She decided to have an abortion at home for fear of hiring COVID-19 in a hospital or clinic with the help of the popular WhatsApp messaging service.
More and more women in Mexico are turning to online support networks, and they need to be advised how to abort with misoprostol, a prescription ulcer.
Maria found out about this network through a friend, contacted them and added it to a WhatsApp group along with psychologists, which they call “abortion helpers”. They often looked to see how he was feeling, sent him infographics where to get misoprostol, how to take pills, what to eat beforehand, and sent reminders to keep him on the right administration schedule.
While Muñoz lives in Mexico City, until the 12th week of her pregnancy in one of the two places in Mexico where abortion is legal, she still favored the option of online help from home. “I decided to do it at home because you often go to the clinic and there are right-wing opposition groups that attack you,” he told Al Jazeera. COVID-19, economic accessibility and the ability to keep the couple close also contributed to his decision.
After the abortion, she was joined by a WhatsApp group from all over Mexico, who lived through the process and wanted to share their experiences. “It really affected me to hear women aborting where it was not legal and they had to suffer a double fear – the fear of abortion and also the fear of being imprisoned for abortion when they are in a weak moment,” Muñoz added. .
The chances of aborting women in 30 Mexican states are very slim. Legal termination of pregnancy is only allowed in certain cases where there are rape or health factors that endanger the woman’s life. Abortion was legalized in Oaxaca in 2019, but very few clinics provide it as a service, and access to women essentially does not exist.
The reproductive justice Morras Help Morras collective, translated as Girls Help Girls, has helped women across Mexico help terminate pregnancies. The group receives an average of nine to 10 requests a day from women who want to terminate a pregnancy they do not want at home, said Sofia, the organization’s deputy director, and declined to share her last name because it could have legal consequences. They have tens of thousands of followers on social media to help reach women across the country.
Sofia begins her working day on a computer screen full of open social network windows; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and WhatsApp.
A young woman wrote on Facebook: “I am 15 years old, I know I am very young. I don’t know if I’m pregnant. I really don’t want to be, because I have a lot of family problems. “Sofia replied softly, explaining that the first step is to have a pregnancy test at home. She reassures:” Calm down, we’re here for you. “
Sofia has received training that enables her to be an abortion assistant. She is not a professional doctor and has advised those who are terminating their pregnancy to talk to gynecologists or network members if there are any complications.
“Clandestine is not synonymous with dangerous. It means clandestine [aborting] in an illegal way, but we provide objective and scientific information through the ground, “Sofia told Al Jazeera.” Women need to have access to safe abortions because they have their own right, it’s a matter of autonomy. “
Since orders to shelter COVID-19 at home on March 23, 2020, were declared in Mexico, advocates of reproductive justice have documented greater difficulties in aborting women. Prior to the pandemic, the NGO Fondo Maria provided financial support to dozens of women each year to travel to Mexico City, where abortions can be performed free of charge and legally.
According to government statistics, 71,418 women across Mexico had an abortion in Mexico City between 2007 and 2020. During the pandemic, only five of the city’s 13 abortion clinics remained open.
“Access to abortion was already a challenge and the pandemic has exacerbated the difficulties,” said Sofia Garduño, a defender of the Maria Fund. While the Mexico City government considered abortion to be a key service, there was no clarity as to which clinics were open, and access to contraceptives was diminished as women feared leaving their homes because COVID cases crossed a huge metropolis.
Garduño also stressed the importance of groups for women who want to end their pandemic pregnancy through social media. “A lot of women are at home with the whole family and can’t make the phone call to get the information they need. That’s why we started communicating with them through more discreet methods through social media,” Garduño told Al Jazeera.
Women wear green bands in Mexico City, Mexico, on February 19, 2020, in protest of legal and safe abortion[File: Edgard Garrido/Reuters]
Garduño believes that high levels of unemployment and the economic crisis that has coincided with the pandemic, as well as rising levels of domestic violence, have led many women to seek abortions in the past year.
Legal struggle
Last December, after a long struggle by feminist activists, Argentina decriminalized abortion for up to 14 weeks. This prompted the Latin American “Green Tide” or Green Wave movement. In Mexico, women wearing bright green bandages were thrown out into the streets demanding that their government do the same.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who gives daily press conferences, has avoided answering questions about abortion. When asked if he would decriminalize abortion after the Argentine vote, he proposed an informal referendum. “For very controversial decisions I have always thought that it is best to consult the population and not impose anything on them,” he said. “In this case, women can decide freely.”
#AbortoClandestinoBUAP pic.twitter.com/nIExx7B5TU
– Morras Help Morras (@helpmorras) March 31, 2021
The nonprofit group of the Reproductive and Opportunity Information Group (GIRE) has been fighting for the past 29 years to legalize abortion in Mexico and does not support public opinion polls. “We’re talking about human rights, and women have to decide about their bodies. It is not a decision that should be decided by popular vote, ”said GIRE director Rebeca Ramos.
“The legalization debate is now in the realm of state governments,” Ramos told Al Jazeera.
Mexico City has promised that women can now have abortions in rape cases until week 20, which is allowed in ordinary situations until week 12.
The Supreme Court must decide three cases that call into question the state laws of Sinaloa and Coahila, which say that life begins at conception, as well as a challenge against the health law that would prohibit medical professionals from refusing to administer abortions in cases. when women’s lives are in danger. In July 2020, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled against the proposal to legalize abortion in the state of Veracruz.
An empire cannot do against us. Let’s celebrate this # MayFourth enjoying our autonomy ???????? Let’s resist together, MARIA Fund and strength are with you ???? # May4thYou pic.twitter.com/sMWvF32VPi
– MARIA Fund (@FondoMARIAmx) May 4, 2021
In the states of Puebla and Quintana Roo, activists have taken over state congressional buildings in an effort to push for a reproductive rights agenda. On Saturday, the Puebla State Parliament will convene and encourage pro-election activists to discuss the legal termination of pregnancy. The 94-day sit-in in Quintana Roo state put abortion on the agenda in March. Lawmakers voted against decriminalization.
Activists have said the vote itself is a victory and that they have challenged the decision with legal appeals, under the name of amparos.
While abortion is illegal for most Mexican women, Morras Help Morras, Fondo Maria and other groups say they will continue to fill the gap and provide women with information on safe abortions in their homes.
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