Mexican Telehealth Abortion Provider Now Serves U.S. Women: 'We Are Here for You!'

Mexican Telehealth Abortion Provider Now Serves U.S. Women: ‘We Are Here for You!’
7/26/2022 by Carrie N. Baker and Anya Rozario


Telefem midwife Paula Rita Rivera. (Telefem)

In the wake of Dobbs, people living in states with abortion bans are finding creative ways to access abortion healthcare. Some are able to travel to states that still allow abortion healthcare, while others are obtaining abortion pills from telehealth providers based outside of the U.S., such as Aid Access or from U.S.-based telehealth providers using mail forwarding.

But for people living along the U.S. southern border, there’s a new option: Telefem, a telehealth abortion provider based in Mexico City that mails abortion pills to secure pickup locations along the U.S.–Mexico border for $150.Telefem opened its doors to Mexicans in November 2021, but soon people from other countries began contacting them for help. They realized they could offer service to people from other countries who could travel to Mexico and pick up abortion pills in a safe location near Mexico’s borders, such as Guatemala to the south and the United States to the north.
Ms. magazine spoke with Telefem director and midwife Paula Rita Rivera about how Telefem works and why they began offering services to people from the United States.

Carrie Baker: Are there many telemedicine abortion providers in Mexico?

Rivera: It’s a new approach that’s recently gaining ground. Although there’s an increasing number of independent providers that are starting to use this approach, there are only three or four organizations that provide this service now.
Baker: How have things changed since the Mexican Supreme Court decriminalized abortion in September 2021?
Rivera: The September 2021 Supreme Court ruling to decriminalize abortion has improved abortion access across the country. Because of this ruling, state laws criminalizing abortion can now be challenged across the Mexican territory.
Baker: When did you start serving people from the United States?
Rivera: Just recently. We sent our first package yesterday! We noticed that people from other countries were reaching out to us and that is how we came up with the idea that people near the border could come to Mexico to pick up their packages.
We send the package to designated points of delivery in border cities. The user has to cross into Mexico to pick up her package.

. . . . .

Rivera: I want to say to the women out there: We are here for you! Don’t be afraid. We are with you till the end.

https://msmagazine.com/2022/07/26/mexico-abortion-pills-us-border-telefem-telehealth/