Because Abortion Will Be Illegal In Texas by September...

...here is your compendium of information about how to not get pregnant, what to do if you think you are pregnant and how to end a pregnancy if you decide that you want to.  

Mandatory annoying disclaimer: Nothing in this post should be construed as giving legal or medical advice. 

How Not To Get Pregnant In The First Place

Yes, you can get pregnant the first time. And the second time. And every time. When you have sexual intercourse, both parties need to use birth control to avoid pregnancy. That means a new condom every single time for the man and a second method for the person who can get pregnant.  The best methods are the implant and the IUD, which work for 4-5 years without the hassle of daily remembering.  Unfortunately, they are not for everybody. Pills are also a good choice but they must be taken as directed. You can talk to your doctor about birth control or, if you don't have a lot of money, call Planned Parenthood, 214-368-1485. Also check out this web site here.  And don't forget that condom.

What If We Didn't Use Birth Control? 

Okay, so you forgot the condom. Or something else went wrong, or for whatever reason, you think you might have put yourself at risk of getting pregnant. If you don't want to have a baby, run, don't walk, to your local pharmacy and get the morning after pill. Better yet, go buy some now and keep them on hand. If you are 16 or older, they have to sell them to you. Common brand names are Next Choice One Dose, My Way, Take Action, After Pill, EContra Ez, Aftera, ella and Plan B. The pills are not cheap (starting around $50.00) and you may have to ask for them, but they stop a pregnancy before it starts. This is NOT an abortion; the pills stop a woman from ovulating. No ovulation, no pregnancy.  More information on that here. 

Note: If you are fat, the morning after pill may not work as well as it does in skinny people. You may want to choose the brand ella, which seems to work better in fat women.  A double dose of the other brands should work if you are over 165 pounds. Another good choice is to get a copper IUD, but that may be hard to do within the five days you have to get emergency contraception. More information on that here. 

What If It's Too Late For That?

As of press time, you can have an abortion up to at least 20 weeks in every state. It can be expensive ($300-$1500 depending on the method and how far along you are). You may have to travel. You may have to go through a totally unnecessary ultrasound. You may have to sit through a waiting period. You may have to put up with some bullshit propaganda the state wrote to talk you out of it,  But, you can have a safe and legal abortion in every state. At least until...

The Texas Legislature Just Said I Can't. 

Yes, I know. I'm sorry.  Actually, what they said was, you can have one up to six weeks, but almost nobody even knows they're pregnant at that point, so what they basically said was that you can't.  The courts may overturn this law, but nobody in Texas seems to be in any hurry.  So for the time being, you will need to think long and hard about whether or not you want a baby.  While you're thinking, it's safest to assume that you don't. I say this because you can always tell people later, and even have a big celebration, if you decide to go through with the pregnancy. Once people know you are pregnant, though, everything will get a lot harder.  Especially getting unpregnant.  So, for now: 

• Do not tell anybody. Nobody, not even your boyfriend or your BFF.  If you must talk to someone, call All Options at  1-888-493-009.  It's free and confidential.  Make sure that you're someplace you can't be overheard when you call them, though.  
• Do not go to a doctor's office to confirm the pregnancy.  That will create a record, and you don't want one if you fail to produce a cute, healthy infant nine months from now.  
• Buy a home pregnancy test from a drugstore that you don't go to on a regular basis.  Do the test in a public restroom and throw the package and the little stick away there. I am not kidding. You want nothing in your house that says, "I'm pregnant." 
• If you can possibly manage it, do your "How to get an abortion" searches on a public computer, like the ones at the library. 

Why? Because in some states, women have been charged with crimes like failure to provide aid to a (dead, in this case) newborn (Purvi Patel, Indiana), attempting suicide while pregnant (Bei Bei Shuai, also Indiana), abuse of a corpse (Lisa Jordan, Ohio), malice murder (Kenlissa Jones, Georgia), murder (Chelsea Becker, California), "manslaughter of a fetus" (an offense that also does not exist in California law) (Adora Perez, California)...I could go on.  Some prosecutors will twist laws that were never meant to apply to pregnant women to punish women who have the gall to say, "Fuck you, I'm having an abortion anyway."  So let's not deal with that unless we have to. You have enough to worry about.

Option 1: Travel

If you are in Texas, or anywhere in the west side of the country, really, your best bet is New Mexico.  Not exactly the most convenient destination if you have to drive from, say, Houston, but if you can get to New Mexico, do it.  New Mexico has among the most liberal abortion laws in the country.  Persons under 18 years do NOT need permission from a parent to have an abortion, and there is no upper limit of how far along in the pregnancy you can be and still get an abortion (though it's always easier and cheaper in the earlier stages).  The Women's Reproductive Clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico is just across the border from Texas.  Their phone number is (575) 332-9452 and they see people from Texas all the time.  

If you have to fly, go ahead and fly to Albuquerque where you have more choices.  (Southwest Airlines is highly recommended both for cheapness and flexibility if your plans change.)  Planned Parenthood of Northeast Heights, (505) 265-9511.  UNM Center for Reproductive Health, (505) 925-4455.  Women's Surgical Center, (800) 777-7630.  Avoid the Care Net Pregnancy Center of Albuquerque.  It's not an abortion clinic, it's a "crisis pregnancy center" that exists solely to force "abortion minded women" to give birth.  They will lie to you and try to scare you out of having an abortion, and I've even heard of women being physically kept from leaving the building or being made to feel like they can't leave until they agree, often by signing some bogus document, not to have an abortion.  There are plenty of "crisis pregnancy centers" out there so when you call to make your appointment, be specific that you want an abortion.  Don't pussyfoot around the word.  "I want an abortion.  Do you perform those?"  The answer should be "Yes, we perform abortions up to (number) weeks."  If it's "Come in and talk to us," beware.  

Your distant second choice in Texas is Louisiana (waiting period, minors must have parental permission, host of other restrictions).  The closest clinic to Texas is in Shreveport.  Hope Medical Group for Women, (318) 221-5500.  Other options are the Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge, (225) 923-3242, and the Women's Health Care Center in New Orleans, (504) 899-6010.  

Your third choice is Colorado.  Really good laws for the most part, like New Mexico, but farther away (most of the clinics are in the northern part of the state).  There are a lot of them, though.  Here's a link: Colorado Doula Project. Minors must notify a parent before having the procedure.

If you need financial help to afford an abortion, travel to an abortion, etc., call these people:  Texas Equal Access Fund, (888) 854-4852 or Fund Texas Choice, (512) 900-8908.  If you want to donate, go to https://abortionfunds.org.

 
If you are under the age of 18, can't talk to your parents and can't get to New Mexico, call Jane's Due Process, (866) 999-5263.  They are amazing people and if there's a way for you to have an abortion without notifying your parents, they will find it.  

By the way, if you have to travel anyway and you think you're going to end up getting on a plane, you can also fly to California, Washington or Oregon.  I don't know as much about the options there, but abortion is widely available and restrictions are few.  

Option 2: Abortion Pills At Home

You can get abortion pills for home use at https://aidaccess.org/ or www.abortionondemand.org   They will screen you to make sure your pregnancy is under 10 weeks and charge you a nominal fee.  Another choice is plancpills.org.  All of these sites will mail you the pills from outside the United States.  You can also order Cytotec or misoprostol (how to use) and Trexall or methotrexate (how to use) from a Mexican pharmacy.  Or you can go to Mexico and buy them without a prescription in any drugstore.

Is Just Ordering Pills Like That Legal? 

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer.  Lots of people would say "Of course it's illegal, how can it be legal to have someone mail you abortion pills?" and a lot of other people would say, "It's legal to bring your own medicines into the U.S. and these are commonly used medications that work for a variety of conditions, so how can it be illegal?" And again, the answer may be "It depends on what the prosecutor can find to throw at a woman who has the gall to say, 'Fuck you, I'm having an abortion anyway.'  So let's not worry about legal. Let's just worry about staying under the prosecutor's big bad radar:

• Do not tell anyone you have ordered pills online. Nobody, not even your boyfriend or your BFF.
• If possible, have the pills delivered to a P.O. box or a box at one of those mail/post stores.  Mail/post stores are probably better because most of them won't hand over your address to the police without a court order.   The Post Office will cheerfully say, "Yeah, Box Number 1250 is (this person) and here's how to find that person; why, has that person done something they shouldn't have?"
• When the pills show up, take them immediately as directed and then call in sick to work/school until you know how they will affect you.
• Do not tell anybody you took the pills, not even...yeah.
• You will bleed and cramp. That can't be helped.  For most people, it stops in about 24 hours.  
• Take iron supplements as directed and eat some red meat or spinach after the fact to build up red blood cells.
• Wait a few days, then take another pregnancy test in another public restroom to make sure you're not pregnant anymore.

These medicines are highly effective (85% and up) and your biggest possible side effect is that they may not work.  If it doesn't seem to work (no bleeding/ cramping), you may need a second dose. 

Bleeding is scary, especially if it seems like you're bleeding a lot, but most of the time it will stop on its own. Still, very rarely, the abortion may not completely finish and there may be pieces of pregnancy tissue stuck inside. So if you keep bleeding, if you start running a fever, or if you otherwise think you need medical care:

• Get rid of the package the pills came in by disposing of it in public trash.
• Do not tell anyone you took the pills. There is no medical difference between a miscarriage caused by "natural causes" and one caused by pills. Plenty of people, without knowing they're pregnant, will suddenly start bleeding/cramping. It happens in up to half of all pregnancies, especially in the earlier stages.
• The drugs cannot be detected in your system after the fact. Cannot be, it's not possible.  If a doctor or a cop says, "Your test results show that you took something," he/she is lying. Also, he/she is suspicious, so stop talking to him/her.
• Some people really have a problem with people having abortions, especially self-managed abortions (how dare you).  If you run into somebody who seems overly curious, outraged, or otherwise interested, do not talk to him/her and call the Repro Legal Helpline, (844) 868-2812.  They will do their best to hook you up with legal counsel, pronto.   
• If the police come to the hospital or want to interview you, ask them if you are free to leave. If the answer is yes, stop talking to them. If the answer is no, then you are under arrest.  You have the right to remain silent. Stop talking to them.
• Do not, under any circumstances, talk to the police without a lawyer present. Especially if they're being very friendly and they "just want to clear this up." They are allowed to lie to you. They don't want to "clear things up," they want to find evidence of a crime and ruin the next several years of your life because you had the gall to say "Fuck you, I'm having an abortion anyway."  So don't do it.  No attorney, no talk to policey. 
• Never, and I do mean never, go down to the police station to make a statement.  Make them come to you.  And once again, have a lawyer present.  

That's it.  That's all I've got.  I'm sorry I can't make it any better, but you can, and your friends can, by registering to vote and voting out the assholes who thought this law was such a good idea.  Good luck and Godspeed.