Senate Bill 8, considered the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, bans abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant.

The law has spurred organizations and abortion funds in South Texas to provide emergency contraception and out-of-state travel assistance. Poverty and immigration status can cause further challenges for those seeking the procedure under the ban.

South Texans for Reproductive Justice is providing free emergency contraception pills to rural and low-income residents in and around the Rio Grande Valley. In San Antonio, Buckle Bunnies Fund is a volunteer-run and donation-based abortion fund that provides financial and logistical support to people seeking abortions.

Court decisions have gone back and forth on the ban’s enforceability over several weeks. While the law’s constitutionality is questioned, the Biden administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop enforcement of the ban. The high court will hear two legal challenges to the law beginning at 9 a.m. Monday. For now, the near-total abortion ban is still being enforced.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/10/30/abortion-ban-south-texas/.

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