Following the Supreme Court ruling, some Americans who lack access to safe local abortions are looking to the country’s northern and southern neighbours for reproductive care.
While most Americans are likely to seek abortion in other states first, providers in Mexico and Canada told Reuters that they expect some people, particularly from border states, to cross the border for reproductive care.
However, travel is a privilege: obstacles include obtaining a passport, money for lodging, and the procedure itself, which can cost anywhere from $160-$250 in Mexico to C$400-$800 ($310-$621) in Canada.
Latin American reproductive rights activists have looked to the United States for inspiration for many years. The roles are now being reversed.
The flow of abortion patients from the United States to Mexico, where just under half of the population supports abortion, is ‘just getting started,’ according to Luisa Garcia, director of Profem, which operates abortion clinics in four Mexican cities.
In May, ten of the 40 patients at the Tijuana clinic were Americans. Garcia said that the majority had crossed the border from California, owing to the relative ease and low cost of the procedure at her clinic – a sign that abortion services can be out of reach even in states seen as beacons of abortion access.
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