The Texas Tribune’s reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center.
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For years, volunteer networks have helped thousands of people across Mexico access abortion outside the formal medical establishment, usually at home, by providing medication.
Acompañamiento, which translates to “accompaniment,” refers to a broad support system created by women looking to help one another manage their own abortions.
Network volunteers known as acompañantes distribute pills, give instructions on how to take them and offer medical guidance informed by doctors. They counsel individuals through a series of phone calls, video chats or texts. Sometimes they even offer up their own homes as temporary lodging.
Now that abortion access is limited in Texas and other states after the constitutional right to abortion was revoked, the Mexican network model is moving into the United States.
Alexa Ura contributed to this report.
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