Abortion tourism is a thing in Texas now

A 20-year-old student at the University of Texas at Austin has started a nonprofit organization to skirt a new state law that bans abortion after 20 weeks and requires abortion doctors to have hospital-admitting privileges within 30 miles of the abortion facility.

The student is Lenzi Sheible, reports The Texas Tribune. Her nonprofit is called Fund Texas Women.

Notably, Sheible is seven months pregnant.

The new law, House Bill 2, went into effect Nov. 1.

In response to the law, Fund Texas Women pays travel expenses for women – and minor girls – to get to the abortion clinics which still exist in The Lone Star State. For women who have decided to get abortions after they are 20 weeks pregnant, the nonprofit pays to ship them to other states, including New Mexico and Colorado.

Fund Texas Women operates a volunteer-staffed hotline for pregnant women seeking financial assistance.

Since its founding on Nov. 8, the organization has spent approximately $10,000 to send 35 women on abortion vacations. The group pays for airfare, bus tickets, hotel accommodations and various other expenses.  (more...)

Abortion tourism is a thing in Texas now