"Salud, Dignidad y Justicia" (health, dignity and justice) was the greatest demand at Wednesday's abortion demonstration following a hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

There, activists from numerous states, namely Texas, spoke against the closure of abortion clinics, and the restrictions placed on preventative contraception in the state.

The controversy surrounding women’s health (thanks to Texas House Bill 2 or HB2) is happening right now, in Texas. And it’s disproportionately affecting Latinas, who represent 40 percent of the female population in the state. Texas Latinas and allied organizations travelled 10 hours from the Rio Grande Valley to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, Louisiana in order to witness the hearing firsthand and to participate in a peaceful demonstration this morning. There, the women mobilized, communicating the importance of accessibility, safety and affordability when it comes to reproductive healthcare.

Lucy Felix, NLIRH's Senior Texas Field Coordinator, who testified during earlier proceedings on the law and spoke of the harmful impact of HB2 on Texas Latinas’ ability to access safe and affordable reproductive healthcare services, attended the hearing. Also in attendance were representatives from Whole Women's Health, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, the New Orleans Abortion Fund, and Ana Rodriguez DeFrates, Texas Director for Policy & Advocacy at NLIRH.

“The reason that we’re doing this work in Texas is because although HB2 and abortion legislature looks to shut down clinics and hurt Texas’ women… it hurts Latinas, in particular. And the reason for that is Texas’ Latino women already face formidable barriers when attempting to access healthcare they need; via transportation, immigration, language and a number of concerns like that,” Rodriguez DeFrates told Latin Post Wednesday. “We drove here from south Texas... 11 of us that came to the court hearing from the Rio Grande Valley, one of the areas hardest hit by HB2.”

Rodriguez DeFrates shared that on her trip to New Orleans, they passed an internal immigration checkpoint, not at the border, but on the way to Louisiana. She stated that she’d like make mention of this because women along the Texas/Mexico border will have to do the same thing if HB2 is allowed to stand.

“In other words, the clinics have shut down to the extent that women have to go to San Antonio, and cross an internal immigration checkpoint in order to get the safe and legal abortion and healthcare that they need,” said the Argentinian-born and Texas-raised activist. “We’re all in the van, and we all have legal status … and, frankly, it was still a little intimidating to cross the check point. Imagine how intimidating that would be if you were undocumented. It would have the desired effect of putting abortion care out of reach for immigrant women...and that's not acceptable to us, and that's why we're here."

When asked what message she thought that legislators were trying to send to the women of Texas, particularly Latinas, who represent 40 percent of the population, she stated that she couldn’t speak for legislators, but they've said that limitations are about health and safety, although it absolutely isn’t about health and safety. If it was, “we would be assuring that women in need have not only access to safe and legal abortions, but they would have access to the preventive care that they want and need. And that's inaccessible currently in many parts of Texas.”

“There are two things happening,” shared Rodriguez DeFrates. “The abortion clinics are shutting down [permanently] all across the state if HB2 is allowed to stand. Also, the family planning safety-net still has not yet recovered from the devastating budget cuts of 2011. You can’t' have both ways, Mr. Legislator. You can’t cut preventive care and shudder legal abortion access.”

In regards to how the demonstration turned out, she said that it was "awesome," stating that it was empowering to have their allies there from not only New Orleans and L.A., but from Mississippi who also faced similar abortion restrictions. Together, they verbalized the need to invest in family planning and preventive care, and that includes contraceptive care for Texas women.

The Texas abortion law HB2 placed regulations on facilities, stating that abortion clinics must be operational in a way similar to hospital-like surgical centers. There were only 13 of 21 abortion clinics left in Texas serving 6 million women of production age prior to HB2. After, 41 facilities to dwindled down to 7. Nonetheless, state attorneys have said that the majority of Texas women still live within “comfortable driving distance” or 150 miles of an abortion facility that meets HB2 criteria.

"Texas Latina women are watching, we're listening and we're speaking up," Rodriguez DeFrates proclaimed, after sharing that she was inspired to this work by Sen. Kirk Watson, who stood with Wendy Davis to fight HB2 when it was being debated at the legislator.

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