As the United States grapples with new restrictions on abortion, opened the first legal clinic to terminate pregnancy on the northern border of Mexico with the motto “children by choice and not by chance” for women of any nationality.

The Marie Stopes Mexico Foundation has installed the first specialized clinic for legal termination of pregnancy in Tijuana, just 10 kilometers from the border port of San Ysidroleading to California.

This is the ninth clinic to be installed in Mexican territory and It comes after the reform that Baja California made in October 2021 in the first and only Mexican state bordering the United States to decriminalize abortion.

The medical director of the Marie Stopes Mexico Foundation, Alfonso Gerardo Carrera Riva Palacio, says the organization seeks to “support women so that they can exercise their rights”.

The clinic reflects the progress of this reproductive right in Mexico, where nine states now allow termination of pregnancy up to 12 weeks of gestation for any reason: Mexico City, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Baja California and Colima, Sinaloa (up to week 13), Guerrero and Baja California Sur.

“In addition to being attached to what the Supreme Court of Justice has stated that all women should have access (to termination of pregnancy) and he should not be penalized in the country”, Comments Carrera Riva Palacio about the sentence that last September declared the total ban on abortion unconstitutional.

protocols

The doctor said the abortion processes they implement are aligned with protocols of the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the Mexican guideline issued in June last year by the National Center for Gender Equality.

“This means that there is a guideline and clinical guidance to be able to offer it in a safe and legal way,” he stressed.

The expert said this process “is very safe”, since the error rate is less than 3%which guarantees the recovery of the health status of the person who performs it, since the process takes from a few hours to a couple of days.

First, take it first one tablet of medicine and 36 hours later the second is taken to inhibit the progress of the pregnancy.

right to decide

From the first days of the clinic opening, in early July, women came for appointments and abortions.

Carrera Riva Palacio reported that the profile of patients are women, in general, over 26 years of ageand that “80% of them have children, are heads of families and are Catholics”.

In the clinic they mention it one in three pregnancies is unwanted and even forced into Mexico, where access to rape abortion is legal in all states with flexible deadlines.

However, in the current regulatory framework it is foreseen that for voluntary abortion the term is only up to 12 weeks of gestation, to which the clinic adheres.

paw everything

The specialist explained that the response to Tijuana has been good because women who feel they are not at the ideal time to have children can terminate pregnancy safely and legally.

Furthermore, given the US Supreme Court ruling in June which eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, hopes that American women can also participate, Mexicans and other countries that are immigrating to this border.

The specialist asked to respect autonomy so that each of the women makes their own decisions.

“The stigma about abortion existed and it will continue to exist because there are people who want to control women’s decisions, “she complained.

“We have a vision of ‘children by choice and not by chance’ and our mission is that in Mexico every birth is desired, so we will be at a level of development as it should be, always to be given to women,” she concluded.

EFE agency

PB