Mexican Women Seeking Safe Abortion Services in San Diego, California

Abstract

Except for in Mexico City, abortion is legally restricted throughout Mexico, and unsafe abortion is prevalent. We surveyed 1,516 women seeking abortions in San Diego, California. Of these, 87 women (5.7%) self-identified as Mexican residents. We performed in-depth interviews with 17 of these women about their experiences seeking abortions in California. The Mexican women interviewed were generally well-educated and lived near the U.S.–Mexican border; most sought care in the United States due to mistrust of services in Mexico, and the desire to access mifepristone, a drug registered in the United States for early medical abortion. Several reported difficulties obtaining health care in Mexico or reentering the United States when they had postabortion complications. Several areas for improvement were identified, including outreach to clinics in Mexico.

Acknowledgments

We thank Erika Troncoso, Tracie Davis, Olivia Ortiz, Selina Espinoza, Reyna Montero, and Soraya Vasquez for their help with field work and analysis and Janet Hardy and Abby Krumholz for assistance in reviewing and editing earlier drafts of this article. The research was supported by grants from the Migration and Health Research Program (PIMSA) of the Health Initiative of the Americas of the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and an anonymous donor. A version of this article was presented at Reproductive Health 2005 in St. Petersburg, Florida, in September 2005 and at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Philadelphia in December 2005.