TEXAS — In response to long standing anti-abortion and anti-immigrant policies and increasingly violent rhetoric coming from all levels of government, West Fund and Frontera Fund launched a bilingual advertising campaign today in Texas to increase awareness of the connection between abortion access and immigrant justice. The “Abortion Without Borders” campaign, the first by the two abortion funds in South and West Texas, calls for an end to barriers to abortion with a message of love, compassion, and healing justice for the borderlands.
The organizations, which provide financial and practical support to people seeking abortion care in South and West Texas, seek to engage their largely immigrant communities which are most impacted by restrictive policies and face a constant and growing fear of deportation and state violence.
Frontera Fund believes in providing safe and accessible abortion access for all especially those immensely impacted by harmful, fascist policies. Immigrant communities in the Rio Grande Valley are faced with countless barriers when attempting to access healthcare, especially abortion care and the very barriers put into place are made to leave marginalized communities without a choice. Communities deserve to live their lives and sustain their families safely without fear of deportation or other state-sanctioned violence.
“We believe in Abortion Without Borders,” said Cathy Torres of Frontera Fund.
Borderland communities are among the poorest in the nation and among the hardest hit by state and federal policies restricting access to abortion. Mandatory 24-hour waiting periods and parental consent laws have been exacerbated by a dramatic drop in the number of clinics. As a result, access to abortion care is out of reach for many undocumented, rural, and low-income communities along the borderlands.
“The immigrant journey doesn’t stop when folks make it to the U.S. In fact, we’ve seen that it only becomes more difficult once they make it to El Paso. After struggling to make it to this side of the border, people face hateful policies that separate families, sanction tent cities, and fund child detention. The immigrant journey should be met with compassion. Everyone deserves access to healthcare, regardless of their immigration status, including people seeking abortion,” said Mariel Larios of West Fund.
Through this joint campaign the groups seek to:
- Convey a clear connection between reproductive justice and immigrant justice.
- Center the voices of those who live along the borderlands.
- Help borderland communities have more real, honest conversations about their experiences without shame or stigma.
- Build a world where everyone is able to make the best choices for themselves and their families.
- Remind people that migration and abortion are natural, and have been practiced by humans since the dawn of time.
- Provide political education about anti-abortion and anti-immigrant policies at the state and federal level.
The six bilingual billboard ads, designed by local artist Ursula Avila will run through early June in El Paso and McAllen, Texas.
For more information, visit westfund-fronterafund.org.
