Clinic in New Mexico offers free abortion pill to active-duty military on Armed Forces Day
The Women's Reproductive Clinic in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, has extended providing the abortion pill for free for any active duty, enlisted military Monday, May 13 through the end of May. Originally, it was through Armed Forces Day.
Military women still have to make their travel arrangements.
The clinic at 5300 McNutt Road in Santa Teresa, N.M. has served many military patients since before Texas enacted a law restricting abortion after six weeks. The clinic opens at 8 a.m. each day.
More: Texas' new ban on abortion will have damaging outcomes: Ophra Leyser Whalen
The clinic has offered the same service free on other important occasions such as International Women's Day in 2022. It also previously provided the free service in January 2020 to mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
Dr. Franz Theard, a former Army doctor who owns the clinic, has said the clinic in New Mexico, where reproductive choice is legal, is accessible to residents of East Texas.
Women in the service are nearly twice as likely as civilian women to have an unintended pregnancy, according to research from the Ibis Reproductive Health, sites a U.S. military newspaper, Stars and Stripes.
There are more than 13,800 unintended pregnancies in the military each year, according to the group that focuses on improving women's reproductive autonomy, choices and health worldwide.
For more information: www.reproductiveservices.com; 575-332-9452.
More: How to get birth control and emergency contraception in Texas
María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: NM Clinic provides abortion pill for military for Armed Forces Day
