Advocates help pay for travel to a shrinking number of abortion clinics in Texas
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Advocates-help-pay-for-travel-to-a-shrinking-5921864.phpAUSTIN - The young woman lived in Dallas, 650 miles from Albuquerque, but that is where she would have to go for an abortion, she was told. New state regulations had forced several of Dallas' six abortion clinics to close, creating weekslong waiting lists. By the time the woman could get in, she would be up against the Texas ban on abortions after 20 weeks' gestation.
But she could not afford the trip to New Mexico.
So it was that she had left a phone message with a hotline in Austin and, on a recent evening, heard back from Lenzi Sheible, the 20-year-old founder of a fund to help low-income women pay the unexpected costs of traveling for abortions in Texas - or to states beyond. They spoke four times that night as the woman wavered about going to Albuquerque alone.
"You can always call me when you get to New Mexico; just talk to me," Sheible said. By the end of the evening, she had texted the woman confirmation numbers for a flight the next day, $680 round trip, and four nights' stay at an Albuquerque hotel, with shuttle service to the clinic.
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Sheible's fund now has a seven-member board that includes her husband, Warren Sheible. In January, the group will have its first paid staff member. In just over a year, she said, the fund received about $60,000, mostly in small amounts, and has spent about $25,000 to help 106 women statewide.
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