beyondxy:

Women rally after McAllen abortion clinic shuts down

Two men from St. Jude’s Catholic Church stood in prayer Saturday morning next to the Whole Woman’s Health Clinic.

A few feet to their right, a group of about 15 women held signs supporting the shuttered abortion clinic as passing motorists honked their horns in support.

Southern Texans for Reproductive Justice staged a rally Saturday in front of what was the sole abortion clinic in South Texas.

A federal appeals judge Thursday ruled Texas could immediately begin enforcing stringent abortion restrictions that effectively closed all but seven abortion facilities. The case could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a final ruling on the state’s abortion restrictions.

The closure of the Rio Grande Valley’s lone remaining abortion clinic forces women seeking abortions will have to travel 240 miles to San Antonio. Abortion is illegal in Mexico.  

Wearing bright orange shirts — the color chosen for the pro-abortion support group — the group’s organizer, Melissa Arjona, 33, of Pharr, said she wanted to show that pro-choice momentum is building in the Valley.

Arjona said she expected the appeals judge to force the clinic to close.

“It was pretty heartbreaking — expected — but it’s really upsetting that they’re closing the clinic,” she said. “Especially now that we’ve been escorting the women and seeing what they go through and how the protestors out here treat them and their approach.”

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