A New Mexico abortion fund provider has planned a coordinated effort to transport more than 10 abortion patients to Texas for a day of abortion care at an Albuquerque clinic last week.

The effort is in response to Texas SB 8, which bans abortion after six weeks for people in Texas. New Mexico abortion providers have been stretched to accommodate additional patients from Texas. Joan Lamunyon Sanford, executive director of the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which organized what she called the group’s “first action”, said it was the start of the launch of Pastoral Care for Abortion Access.

A Texas chaplain and a case manager also traveled on the flight with the patients.

“It’s just more about what we’ve done, what we need to do as a faith-based organization,” she said.

The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is one of the few abortion funders in the state. Abortion fund providers in New Mexico have also seen an increase in callers and needs due to the Texas restriction.

Lamunyon Sanford said she couldn’t be specific on the number of patients who traveled on Friday due to security and privacy concerns, but she said the patients had flown from Dallas. Texas SB 8, which bans abortion after six weeks, encourages what many members of the reproductive rights community call “vigilant” because anyone can sue someone who “helps or encourages” someone who is. had an abortion in Texas.

She also said the staged action required considerable coordination with the Albuquerque clinic and the patients and others involved in Texas.

Lamunyon Sanford said that due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to impose an injunction on Texan law as reproductive rights groups attempt to fight it in court, the nationwide network including the coalition is a chapter, decided to launch the initiative.

Lamunyon Sanford said the network is returning to the way it worked before the Supreme Court ruling Roe vs. Wade almost 50 years ago. The national network, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, had a clergy counseling network that formed in 1969. The network helped women find a safe abortion provider while abortions were still illegal in most places. States, including New Mexico.

Related: New Mexico-based abortion fund twice as busy as before pandemic

Lamunyon Sanford said the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice needed help getting around for an abortion “has continued to increase.”

“It’s at least three times what it was in the same months last year. It continued to increase. We’re almost at 400 callers for the year, ”she said.

She said the majority of callers were from Texas.

She said a Texas abortion fund helped patients who flew with the cost of the clinic. She said the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice had raised additional funds to pay for the trip. The coalition also provided breakfast in Texas and another meal in Albuquerque for patients.

“We’ve had very generous donors, but the bottom line is that it’s a band-aid,” she said of the group’s efforts.

She said that in addition to the Texas abortion ban, there are too many restrictions on abortion, including the Hyde Amendment, a federal regulation that prohibits the government from providing funds for abortions, which affects many people across the country. These include military personnel, federal employees who receive insurance through their employer, and Native Americans who receive medical treatment through Indian Health Services.

Lamunyon Sanford said it was really important for the religious left and religious progressives to “really step up” and “start countering these really harmful messages,” which are coming from religious groups that are anti-abortion.

“We didn’t say that loud enough. It’s better to say it with our actions and it was part of what we did, ”she said.

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