
Last week calls from Texas began flooding into a national abortion assistance hotline with Spanish-language operators: One woman called afraid to fly to New Mexico because of her immigration status. Another woman said she would have to keep her pregnancy because she feared deportation if she crossed state lines. A third worried that she would be detained by immigration authorities if she used public transportation to travel.
Penelope DiAlberto, a regional case manager for Texas at the National Abortion Federation, said the three women were among a massive spike in calls to their hotline on the Friday and Saturday after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion.