Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

TPR reporters David Martin Davies and Kayla Padilla spent the year following the passages that many Texans take to obtain an abortion. They documented what happens when they evade the Texas abortion ban.

A documentary report on how people in Texas are forced to travel to other states for abortions and exploring the challenges, costs and repercusions of the journey.

Elevated Access coordinates small plane pilots with people in need of an abortion. The match-ups are done online. Elevated Access embraces anonymity. The pilots don’t even know the names of their passengers.

According to the CDC, Texas leads the nation with the highest rate of 'repeat teen births.' That’s a pregnant teen who already had at least one other child. Since abortion was virtually outlawed in Texas, pregnant teens have few options.

Since Texas adopted a full ban on abortion, not only have abortion seekers been forced to leave the state but so too have the abortion providers. Texas Public Radio’s Kayla Padilla and David Martin Davies tell us more in their series "Planes, Trains and Automobiles – Evading the Texas Abortion Ban."

In most circumstances, it is illegal to perform an abortion in Texas. The solution for many is to travel out of Texas and to a state where abortion is still legal.

Many Texans who have an unwanted pregnancy have little choice than to go out of state to access a legal abortion. It’s expensive and difficult but even more so for those living in deep South Texas. New Mexico is far away but Mexico is not. So what are the options for getting an abortion across the RGV border in Mexico? Texas Public Radio’s Kayla Padilla and David Martin Davies went to find out.

“These laws have a significant chilling effect,” said Elizabeth Sepper, a University of Texas law professor. “They strike fear into the hearts of people who are trying to leave the state for totally legal and medically appropriated abortions in other states where abortion is available.”

It’s been several weeks since the Reproductive Justice Fund was approved, but it’s still unknown if it will be used to pay for abortion access in other states — and if that would be seen as a violation of state law.