Texas Matters: Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Evading the Texas Abortion Ban

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24 2022. For many, the decision was and remains a personal tragedy.

Roe was the high court’s 1973 ruling that had guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. But immediately 13 states, including Texas, outlawed virtually all abortion access with previously passed “trigger laws.”

A person’s access to an abortion now depends on which state they happen to be in.

For many in Texas that means if they need an abortion, they must travel hundreds of miles to a state where abortion remains legal.

Texas Public Radio decided to dig in and explore what are the challenges, costs and repercussions for those who are forced to make this journey.

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.