DakotaRei Frausto, 19, traveled 11 hours from their hometown of San Antonio, Texas, in April 2022 for an abortion after their contraception failed. (Courtesy of DakotaRei Frausto)
DakotaRei Frausto was 17 years old and 12 weeks pregnant when they had to travel 11 hours by car from San Antonio, Texas, to New Mexico to terminate a pregnancy after contraception failed them.
The appointment was April 1, 2022, about six months after Senate Bill 8 initially took effect in Texas, banning abortions after about six weeks. “I had a lot of health issues that played into me wanting to get an abortion, but those very issues made it difficult for me to realize I was pregnant in the first place,” said Frausto, who was eight weeks along by the time they discovered they were pregnant.
Among them: chronic nausea, anemia that causes dizziness and fatigue, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder — better known as PMDD — which causes severe mood swings and other symptoms often associated with premenstrual syndrome, including a missed period.