‘They Don’t Understand That We’re Real People’

[0] From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernisi.

[1] This is the Daily.

[2] Tonight, the most restrictive abortion law in the country has gone into effect in Texas.

[3] The Texas rule bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity before many women know they're pregnant.

[4] A month ago, on September 1st, Texas adopted a controversial law that effectively bans abortion in the country's second largest state.

[5] Well, breaking news tonight.

[6] The U .S. Supreme Court will not block the new Texas law that banned the law has faced multiple challenges in court.

[7] The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to block the new Texas abortion law, including by the federal government.

[8] But so far, the law has survived, and it is already having an effect.

[9] Today, my colleague Claire Tennisketter and I on how the most restrictive law in the country is changing the map on abortion.

[10] It's Friday, October 1st.

[11] Can you describe what we're seeing?

[12] We are driving through a series of endless stoplights on a really straight road with no hills out toward the clinic.

[13] What time is it?

[14] It's 7 .35 at the morning.

[15] Last week, Claire and I traveled to Oklahoma City to go to one of Oklahoma's four abortion clinics.

[16] It's supposed to be 99.

[17] Nine degrees today.

[18] It does not feel like it, but I guess that's the plane states, right?

[19] Yeah.

[20] Pulling up.

[21] Oh, great.

[22] You two.

[23] We arrived on a hot, sunny Monday morning.

[24] Sabrina, tell me where we're at.

[25] We're standing on the lawn of an abortion clinic called Trust Women.

[26] Building is brick, single story, pretty nondescript.

[27] Could be a dentist office.

[28] has some security cameras and a really tall wooden fence that goes all around the property.

[29] And we're here to see what the effect of the Texas abortion law has been, the one that began September 1st, because this clinic is only about three hours north of Dallas.

[30] It's one of the closest clinics to Texas that women could go to.

[31] We knew that because this clinic was so close to the Texas border, it would see an increase in patience.

[32] So we wanted to see how this law was affecting women and their calculations for whether to get an abortion.

[33] Let's go inside?

[34] Yeah, let's go in.

[35] We head through a little vestibule, past an armed guard watching security cameras and checking bags, into what looks like a typical doctor's office.

[36] There's a large waiting room with magazine racks on the walls and soft music playing, and about a dozen chairs.

[37] and a reception area behind a glass window.

[38] Okay, what were your questions?

[39] Inside, four women are already busy answering phone calls.

[40] One of those women is Jennifer Rince.

[41] Is this a normal amount of calls?

[42] After September 1st, yes.

[43] It was like a light had been flipped.

[44] We had every line lit up for almost eight hours straight.

[45] How many calls do you get a day?

[46] Before it was, I mean, there were really slow days.

[47] We'd be 15 calls a day, 20 calls a day.

[48] And then I'm telling you, September 1st rolled around, and it was just like, all hell broke loose.

[49] Probably 60 to 80.

[50] What's that like?

[51] It's hard, but you can, I mean, I have to, I have to, like, stop and take a breath and tell myself, like, you're one person.

[52] and you're doing as much as you can, and you just have to take a breath and remember that, and then I can move on.

[53] But, like, I'll just try to take on too much.

[54] All right, how can I help you?

[55] On these calls, Jennifer and her colleagues answer questions about the procedure itself.

[56] And are you wanting the surgical or medication option?

[57] The clinic offers two kinds of abortions, medication abortion, pills that terminate a pregnancy up to 11 weeks, and surgical abortions, which are offered up to 21 weeks and six days.

[58] Okay, so the cost you're being.

[59] Other calls are about the price, which ranges from $650 for the earliest stages of pregnancy to about $2 ,300 for the latest.

[60] Payment plans, no, but we do offer funding.

[61] Some calls are about funding.

[62] In almost all cases in Oklahoma, abortion is not covered by insurance.

[63] And the clinic has a list of organizations that women can contact to ask about funding.

[64] And now, when a caller is ready to schedule an appointment, she has to wait.

[65] Yeah, our next available appointment would be October 14th and 15th.

[66] Because since the Texas law went into effect, this clinic is completely booked and is scheduling appointments several weeks out.

[67] No problem.

[68] That's the hard part right now.

[69] We're so capped out on our surgeries right now that they are looking at three or four weeks before we'd be able to get them back in.

[70] And there's only so many patients the clinic can take because they don't have full -time doctors on staff.

[71] Their doctors actually come from out of state.

[72] Do you know where all the different doctors are flying in from?

[73] Let's see.

[74] Dallas.

[75] Florida.

[76] She's in California.

[77] She goes to the Kansas Clinic in here.

[78] This is typical.

[79] Clinics in states that restrict abortion often struggle to hire local doctors.

[80] The social stigma can be strong, and there are also concerns about safety.

[81] So clinics like this one rely on doctors who fly in for a few days at a time.

[82] And how does it feel that you living here, working here, that the doctors all fly in from out of state?

[83] I think it's sad that we live somewhere that doctors don't feel safe enough to live and work in a state.

[84] I think it's ridiculous, though, because all these doctors have full -time jobs other places, too.

[85] So it's not like they're just like, oh, I only have to work two days a week, and that's in Oklahoma City.

[86] Like, they go work full -time, come here, and then go back to their full -time job again.

[87] Over the next few months, they have five different doctors scheduled, and they're trying to get them to come in more.

[88] often, to accommodate all the Texas patients.

[89] One of the other doctors tried adding another day here, and this one was added for sure because of it.

[90] These two were added because of it.

[91] Because of it, meaning because of Texas.

[92] Yes, yes, yes.

[93] And as we're talking to Jennifer, one of her co -workers, Aminthia Carion, takes a call.

[94] Oh, my goodness.

[95] I'm so sorry.

[96] Okay.

[97] Okay, so we would not be able to get you in here in Oklahoma until the 14th, 18th.

[98] 19, 20, 21.

[99] And so the 14th and the 15th, and so by then you'll probably already be 21 weeks.

[100] So what my options that I would give you would be, we have a sister clinic in Wichita, Kansas, and their waiting list is a lot shorter than ours.

[101] They may be able to get you in next week.

[102] Or I know Colorado and New Mexico as well.

[103] I could give you the numbers to them as well.

[104] But I know with all three of those locations, they do help with funding.

[105] And I know there's like three, places right now in Texas that are helping people with funding to get to their abortions.

[106] Mm -hmm.

[107] Were you located at?

[108] Would you be interested in maybe trying to schedule at our Kansas location, which is Kansas?

[109] Just have a seat for me, it'll be like two seconds.

[110] I'll call you back up.

[111] We'll do payment, okay?

[112] Aminthia, that was, was that a patient that was like the October 14th thing was going to be hard for her, right?

[113] Yeah, it would have put her over.

[114] She's 18 weeks since a couple of days today.

[115] So if she was to come in October 14th, because it would be a two -day procedure, so she's 18 right now, 19, 20, 21, 22, 6.

[116] So she was basically out of time.

[117] Yeah.

[118] There was a girl, a couple weeks back, that pretty much she was just crying on the phone because we weren't able to get her in.

[119] I don't think she had somebody to help her take care of the child.

[120] that she already had and when she did finally find a caretaker and somebody did drive the date that they were able to we weren't available for clinic and she was like excuse my language I guess I'm just pretty much fucking stuck and nobody's going to be able to help me and she was just bawling on the phone and he just felt kind of helpless in situations like that This is a real moment for abortion in America.

[121] In the past four years that I've been covering it, I've seen states in the South and the Midwest restrict access pretty dramatically, which means abortion clinics have been closing, and women are now having to travel longer distances to get to a clinic.

[122] At the highest level, the Supreme Court is about to hear an abortion case from Mississippi.

[123] It's the first argument of an abortion case before the court, with all three of former President Trump's appointees in place.

[124] And there's a chance that it will erase the federal protection for abortion altogether.

[125] But for women in Texas who want abortions, at least for now, that protection is effectively already gone.

[126] So that morning at the clinic, there were 48 patients on the schedule.

[127] Hi.

[128] Thank you so much for talking to us.

[129] And one of them agreed to talk to us.

[130] Tell me your name.

[131] My name is Sarah.

[132] And tell me how old you are, Sarah.

[133] I'm 21.

[134] A young woman named Sarah, who asked that her last name not be used.

[135] Is it weird if I just sit down on the ground?

[136] She's wearing a gray t -shirt with an outline of Texas on it.

[137] She has an IV in her arm, and she's waiting to have an abortion.

[138] Sarah, where did you come from this morning?

[139] I live in Dallas, so we drove up here yesterday.

[140] She came from Dallas the day before.

[141] How far of a drive was it?

[142] What time did you start yesterday?

[143] Three hours.

[144] We left at like two.

[145] With her boyfriend, who's a police officer.

[146] Tell us a little bit about your background.

[147] So, yeah, I grew up in Texas.

[148] Both of my parents died when I was very young, so I don't have that support system behind me. My mom died in a car accident when I was nine, and then my dad got cancer when I was 19.

[149] So I've been on my own for a while, and it's pretty hard having to...

[150] Because this is honestly probably the hardest thing I've ever had to go through, and to have to go through it without them has been hard.

[151] Oh, I'm sorry.

[152] So I was putting my way through college until COVID happened.

[153] Last year, Sarah was paying for college courses to do a criminal justice degree, but then took some time off during COVID and hadn't gone back to her studies yet.

[154] Roofing.

[155] I do roofing.

[156] And that's when she got a job for a roofing company.

[157] Do you yourself go up and do the roofing?

[158] Well, no, I go up and I assess the storm damage.

[159] but I do have to climb on top of roofs and then get on top of them if there's any, like, damage and whatnot.

[160] So, yeah.

[161] She goes up on top of roofs and does inspections for insurance after storms.

[162] I actually used to work at the airport, and he's a police officer for the airport.

[163] She's been dating her boyfriend for about a year.

[164] They met at the Dallas airport where she was working for a security company.

[165] And he kept finding ways to talk to her.

[166] It turned from, like, cute little work flirtation to something, to the best love I've ever had in my life, so.

[167] At what point, Sarah, did you learn you were pregnant?

[168] Tell us a little bit about your story.

[169] So I did miss a period, but I'm 21, and that happens.

[170] So I didn't really realize it.

[171] I thought my period was just kind of being irregular and that it would come the next month.

[172] So in August of this year, she misses her period.

[173] I wasn't on birth control at the time, but, I mean, I tried to practice safe sex.

[174] And she doesn't really think much about it.

[175] She's never been pregnant before.

[176] And then it didn't come the next month, and I was a little worried.

[177] But then she misses another period.

[178] And so she takes a pregnancy test.

[179] Where did you take the test?

[180] In my best friend's bathroom.

[181] It was kind of like, oh, man, let's take a pregnancy test just to be safe.

[182] And then it turned out I was.

[183] And the test comes back positive.

[184] And I went, okay, well, we just got to take care of it.

[185] We just got to, you know, yeah, I just have to get an abortion.

[186] That's what I have to do.

[187] Immediately she thinks, I want to get an abortion.

[188] But she doesn't have health insurance.

[189] So I had to make a bunch of phone calls, and I found, like, a free clinic to go and get a, like, an ultrasound.

[190] And the next day, she ends up at a crisis pregnancy center.

[191] These are places that do not perform abortions.

[192] But they do provide free ultrasounds.

[193] They're typically run by people.

[194] associated with the anti -abortion movement, who try to counsel women out of getting abortions.

[195] Sarah knew this, but she wanted to confirm the pregnancy, and find out how far along she was.

[196] And I understand that, like, the lady giving me an ultrasound was just trying to be helpful, but she wrote, like, messages.

[197] She was like, hi, mommy, it's me. Oh, here's baby.

[198] And, like, seeing that, and, like, knowing that it's right here, and that, like, it was just hard.

[199] Yeah.

[200] My counselor at the place did tell me, she was like, you know, you don't even have to worry about it.

[201] You've got time.

[202] In Texas, you can get an abortion it up to 21 weeks, and she didn't even mention the legislation that was about to pass.

[203] Sarah finds out that she's 13 weeks pregnant, so she thinks she has time.

[204] I had seen that it was in legislation.

[205] She knows the law is coming.

[206] But I thought I would be, like, grandfathered in, and I thought that, like...

[207] But she doesn't think it would apply to her.

[208] I would be able to explain my...

[209] situation here, but the law that they passed is so strict that they have absolutely no loopholes, no ways around it.

[210] Then the law took effect.

[211] I was thinking about going to New Mexico, maybe Colorado.

[212] And she immediately started scrambling to find an abortion clinic in a different state.

[213] But this one was the closest.

[214] Almost a month later, she found herself here, in Oklahoma, at 16 weeks in five days of pregnancy.

[215] How would you do it financially?

[216] She and her boyfriend split the cost of the abortion.

[217] I did have to put off my car payment so I could pay for my half.

[218] Which amounted to $1 ,550.

[219] Now I'm in debt, and now I'm in a hole that I have to get myself out of.

[220] Yeah.

[221] How are you feeling right now, Sarah?

[222] Very scared, very nervous.

[223] Not conflicted.

[224] I made this choice, and I know that it's the choice that's best for me. But there is, like, a possible life forming inside me, and it's hard not to bond with that.

[225] It's hard not to make that connection.

[226] It's hard not to want this.

[227] And I don't think people realize that this is a really hard decision.

[228] And if it wasn't like, if it wasn't like the smartest one, if I was in a better place, I wouldn't be here.

[229] Thank you so much.

[230] Nice to meet you.

[231] At the end of the day, more than half the patients who came traveled from Texas.

[232] There have been so many Texas patients at the clinic in recent weeks that some Oklahoma women who wanted appointments were having to go to another neighboring state.

[233] Kansas.

[234] We'll be right back.

[235] We come back to the clinic on Tuesday morning.

[236] So a car just pulled up.

[237] And before the doors even open...

[238] A red truck with a Texas license plate.

[239] Cars are arriving from Texas.

[240] Another car just pulled up, also a Texas plate.

[241] Patients come in.

[242] Hello.

[243] And the first person they meet is Louis Padilla.

[244] Hi there.

[245] The security guard.

[246] Do you have an appointment for today?

[247] He's quiet and professional, wearing a blue uniform with a bad.

[248] and a gun.

[249] That's what I do here is I check people in, make sure they're supposed to be here, search their bags, articles, whatever, make sure they don't have any weapons.

[250] But when we ask him about his job, he opens up, and it's a little bit unexpected.

[251] I mean, I'm probably the only Catholic Republican that works in an abortion clinic in the United States.

[252] You know, before I was just here for a job, but since then, I've picked a side.

[253] I picked a side of the patient.

[254] And how long did it take you to come to the conclusion you've come to that you feel like you're kind of solidly on this side?

[255] After my first week of dealing with protesters.

[256] He says a lot of his job is dealing with protesters.

[257] Regular basis.

[258] We saw only one.

[259] Why aren't they there right now?

[260] Because we usually do clinic on Thursdays and Fridays, so therefore we fooled them today.

[261] They didn't know we were here.

[262] And he says that's because abortions usually take place at the end of the week.

[263] Still, he said he can't be too.

[264] careful.

[265] Is there a feeling that like maybe, you know, there could be danger or violence?

[266] Yeah, absolutely, because since I've been working here within the last three months, I've had two preachers call me out to the corner wanting to fight with me. I had this old man pull a pocket knife on me and I've called the police on all of them and police, they're kind of like handle protesters with kids gloves around here.

[267] They really don't care to have a lot of interaction with them.

[268] And then the interaction that they do have with them, they kind of kind of seem to take a side, and it's not our side.

[269] And he goes to great lengths, extreme lengths, maybe, to protect the people at this clinic.

[270] Is this a drone?

[271] It is.

[272] It's the newest high -tech equipment that I got to watch the protesters.

[273] For example, he bought a $700 drone with his own money to monitor protesters outside the fence.

[274] There's nobody that comes out here that is not documented somehow, some way, shape, or another they've been out here.

[275] So if anyone ever got violent, he would have their photo.

[276] But on Tuesday, it was quiet.

[277] Do you have an appointment for today?

[278] Yes, I don't know how it was.

[279] My first time is all right.

[280] Just a lot of Texas patients.

[281] Thank you, thank you, and around noon, one of the women he checks in, agrees to talk to us.

[282] I live in Beaumont, actually.

[283] So this, I don't even know if you've heard of it.

[284] It's a small town, by an hour outside of Houston.

[285] Her name is Samara.

[286] She asked us not to use her last name.

[287] And before we even get to know her, she launches into the story of how she ended up here, starting with the moment she realizes she's pregnant.

[288] I found I was pregnant at literally five weeks, five weeks flat.

[289] So I'm thinking I'm good.

[290] You know, everybody's talking about this band and everybody's getting nervous.

[291] I'm like five weeks, I'm good.

[292] I can drive an hour up there.

[293] Samara finds out she was pregnant early, early enough to think she has time to get an abortion in Texas.

[294] So she schedules an appointment in Houston right away.

[295] I go to my first appointment, and I speak to the doctor.

[296] They say I'm a good candidate, everything, you know, should be great.

[297] They do an ultrasound and clear her for an abortion the next day, after a mandatory 24 -hour waiting period.

[298] So I'll go back 24 hours later, and I...

[299] She returns on September 1st.

[300] That's the day that the law goes into effect.

[301] But the law still allows for very early abortions before any cardiac activity is detected.

[302] The staff thinks Samara makes this cutoff.

[303] The ultrasound the day before was quiet, and they bring her into a room for the procedure.

[304] It's a dark room, because it's an ultrasound room, obviously.

[305] They have a curtain on, like, when you walk in, and then you cross over the curtain, and they have, like, a bed.

[306] I know I was shaking a bit, was cold in there.

[307] The gel is always cold when they put her on your stomach.

[308] And then, they do one final check for cardiac activity.

[309] I remember looking at that, taking a deep breath in.

[310] She said, take a deep breath in.

[311] And the doctor's hear something.

[312] All you hear is a heartbeat.

[313] A whole room, all you heard is a heartbeat, strongest heartbeat.

[314] And they immediately stopped the procedure.

[315] And I just, in that same breath, all the tears came out.

[316] Everything I had been, like, crossing my fingers about, like, just came out.

[317] I just bawled and bawled and bawled.

[318] And coming out of that ultrasound room, I actually ran into two or three other girls who had the exact, we have to have been some of the first girls to not get an abortion because of that.

[319] And we were all just crying in the hallway, like, what are we going to do it?

[320] Samara is told that her only option is to go out of state which is how she ended up here at this clinic in Oklahoma but it wasn't easy okay sorry so we so start from the beginning Samara and Samara starts to tell me about her life Samara how old are you?

[321] 22 she's 22 my son is my world she has a kid a two -year -old son I have actually have had an abortion before so she's also had an abortion before You can call me this, you can call me that, you can say what I am, and I'll be that.

[322] But that was my choice, and I'm comfortable with it.

[323] Samara grew up as one of six kids.

[324] My mom was in foster care from either eight or nine until she was illegal, grown adult.

[325] She had my brother when she was young, like 14 or 15.

[326] She had me like 16 or 17, and my next sister, 18 or 19.

[327] Like, she was a very young teen mom.

[328] So she's always expressed that, like, all these mouths to feed, and it's not easy.

[329] And she was like, I get it done because she always got it done.

[330] We never went to bed hungry, but I could tell it wasn't easy.

[331] She was born in California, but moved around a lot.

[332] By high school, she ended up in Texas, where she met her partner.

[333] Me and him, high school, sweetheart, so I'm a year older than him, so I met him when I was in 12 and he was in 11.

[334] And they had their son together in 2019, but money was really tight.

[335] She was working a job in retail making minimum wage.

[336] Her partner was working at a temporary job, doing road.

[337] work, like repainting lines on roads and putting down traffic cones.

[338] We didn't have really much of anything.

[339] Kind of just started from square one, and our main goal was giving him everything that he ever wanted, everything that we ever wanted and couldn't have.

[340] I mean, lights is on, you know, water, hot water.

[341] Those are things that we were like, I want to do for him.

[342] And I remember.

[343] Samara wanted to be able to offer her son more than she'd had as a child.

[344] But she and her partner lived with his mother's family.

[345] It was five people in a two -bedroom apartment.

[346] After giving birth to him, I had severe depression because I hated that we live with his family.

[347] I'm not bringing my baby to my own house or he can, you know, grow up and relax.

[348] I can, like, bond with him and a private man that I want to bond with him, you know?

[349] I couldn't do that because they were family.

[350] You know how a family can be with a new child.

[351] They're all in your face.

[352] Everybody has something to say about how you parent your child and things like that.

[353] So all of that was struggle.

[354] Then last year, things started to turn around for some.

[355] Samara.

[356] This is when the pandemic started, and I got a call back for a work -from -home job at Apple.

[357] Bless them, because they were the reason I was able to even get on my feet like that.

[358] And they started me at 1350, which was in Texas.

[359] When minimum wage is 725, yes.

[360] I jumped on that opportunity.

[361] She had lost her retail job because of the pandemic, but then she got a job at a call center that paid better and allowed her to work from home so she could take care of her son.

[362] had a deposit in the first month's rent, and we were out of there.

[363] And last November, she and her partner moved into their own place.

[364] I couldn't believe it.

[365] We literally, I remember it.

[366] It was like, everything was like a movie.

[367] I swear.

[368] We went to the house.

[369] We didn't chill thinking about it.

[370] We just sat, just stood there looking around, and we looked at each other, and we just hug each other.

[371] Like, all you can hear is our baby just thumping around.

[372] He's yelling, Mommy, Daddy, I have a room.

[373] He's so excited.

[374] Like, oh, my God.

[375] I remember it like it was yesterday.

[376] We were just, I let a couple of tears fall because I was just so happy.

[377] Like, living other people is hard.

[378] So finally being able to be, have our own space, but we're free to do what we want to do.

[379] We don't have to answer to nobody.

[380] Like, it was surreal.

[381] And it was one of the greatest films I felt to this day.

[382] You guys were building something for yourself, right?

[383] Like, you had put, like, a foundation down.

[384] Definitely building.

[385] That's what we always, it was meant to be the other, like, to build stuff.

[386] Like, we have a vehicle now and we're able to, you know, go out and buy food, we can come back home or go into the park every day.

[387] Like, we're just getting to a comfortable point in life.

[388] And so many people, that might not seem like much, but I'm taking my son to do things I never got to do.

[389] We worked hard to get a two -bedroom apartment for him to have his own space because we never had that growing up.

[390] So Samara and her partner settled into their new home with their son.

[391] Got him a new bed.

[392] And their financial situation continued to improve, with her partner getting a job as a driver, making $15 an hour.

[393] Finally, like, we've been together four or five years.

[394] our first time actually buying, like, a brand new out -the -box mattress, not off of, like, Facebook or something like, like a literal, we ordered this.

[395] It had to sit up in our house and inflate kind of mattress.

[396] We were so proud of ourselves.

[397] Like, we have a mattress and a bed frame and a box frame.

[398] It's brand new.

[399] Nobody's ever laid on.

[400] This is us.

[401] So we were so proud of ourselves.

[402] But when she finds out she's pregnant in early August, she starts to worry about the life she'd built, the home she'd created for her son.

[403] You know, we've started building up a home in this apartment.

[404] She said she thought about what it was.

[405] would mean to have another kid.

[406] But this is a child's life that I have to take care of and provide for in my rent.

[407] The financial costs.

[408] Well, my child that's already here is living.

[409] Their ability to stay in the apartment and take care of their son together.

[410] And I'm going to do that by any means possible.

[411] And if I can't have another child right now because it'll prohibit me from taking care of him the way I want to, then I won't have another baby right now.

[412] And that was my mindset.

[413] Like, I can afford to get him pull up to any point in time.

[414] Like with any of the money I have in my account, if I can spend the last set of money, it'll hold me over until I get paid again.

[415] I can't do that for two.

[416] So that was my main thought.

[417] Like, I have to be able to keep taking care of my bills and my baby.

[418] And if I can't take care of my baby with, you know, with the bills as well, I don't need the other child right now because why would I bring them into that?

[419] And so she chose to have an abortion.

[420] And that's why she found herself in the clinic in Houston, the day that the Texas law went into effect, finding out that she couldn't get an abortion in her state.

[421] anymore.

[422] I ended up speaking with the counselor who's very, very sweet.

[423] In this clinic in Oklahoma seems like the easiest option, but it's far away, an eight -hour drive.

[424] What was the most expensive part for you guys?

[425] Like, what was the part where you were looking at it and thinking, oh, that's going to be really hard?

[426] Getting to Oklahoma, literally.

[427] We have a vehicle, but it's not the most reliable vehicle.

[428] So it's like one of those cars you can drive in town.

[429] I can get to work and get back home.

[430] But it's not something where you would trust taking her two -year -road and yourself on a eight -hour drive to a whole other state.

[431] So that right there became, like, the biggest challenge, like, how are we even going to get out here?

[432] And then what about managing, you know, having a two -year road out there?

[433] Like, it was so many little things that were adding up, and it was so stressful.

[434] It was like, we're going to have to just have this baby.

[435] Like, we can't get to Oklahoma, you know?

[436] What our family, our upbringing and background, like, it's just low income.

[437] It's, like, poverty, you say.

[438] Our families aren't people that we could just call.

[439] and ask for money for a plane, they can't call them and say, hey, I can't tell you what I'm doing, but I really need this money right now.

[440] Like, when you have family like that or loved ones like that who would love to help it, but they can't, that just is what it is.

[441] And if they can't help you, they want to know exactly what they're helping you for because they want to know if they get their money back because they need their money too.

[442] Samara doesn't have the money to go on her own, and she can't borrow it from her family.

[443] So she ends up getting some funding from nonprofits, both to cover her procedure, and to fly to Oklahoma.

[444] But Samara doesn't know what to do with her son.

[445] She doesn't have child care, and her mother and her partner's mother both work 12 -hour shifts as home health aides.

[446] They can't take him.

[447] So Samara's partner decides to go with her to Oklahoma and take time off work.

[448] But when he requests the time from his employer, they don't want to give it to him.

[449] He takes it anyway.

[450] And they just let him go.

[451] And they end up letting him go.

[452] Right now he's without a job.

[453] So when we come back to Texas, it's a whole other storm, you know, weather through because of that.

[454] So when we get back home, it's like, it's almost the beginning of the month again.

[455] Rent's coming up, light bills coming up, farm bills are doing.

[456] I want to need to buy my child, pull -ups.

[457] Like, all of these things add up.

[458] All of these things cost money.

[459] All of these things are stressful.

[460] And it's just, this is a mess.

[461] So Samara was able to leave Texas and get to Oklahoma for her abortion.

[462] But going back to Texas, she's facing a lot of.

[463] a lot of uncertainty.

[464] And she's worried about the life she worked so hard to build for her son.

[465] A bunch of people who don't have to feel the effects of those actions are making these laws.

[466] They're like, oh, you know, let me sign this here, and we're going to have a meeting today, and here's a photo op. No, but there's people like me. And tomorrow the day after I'll go back home, not knowing what will happen in the next month.

[467] If I still have my apartment, if I still be any of that stuff, you know, and she's like, they don't understand that.

[468] where real people, we have real life going on.

[469] I literally have a two -year -old that I'm like, I'm not struggling to provide for him, but I'm providing for him in a comfortable manner right now.

[470] And if I had another child, I couldn't do that for both.

[471] And I, you know, I don't want to be that parent.

[472] I don't want to bring my kid into something that I can't afford to take care of because they don't deserve that.

[473] I grew up in that kind of, like, reality.

[474] And I know what it does to people, and I know how hard it is it can be.

[475] And I pride myself on being able to take care of my child.

[476] Me and his father do.

[477] everything and our power to give him everything he needs and everything he wants.

[478] He never leaves his toll out of toy.

[479] I promise you he never does.

[480] So it's like people don't understand that.

[481] We're real human beings and we have real life.

[482] We cry.

[483] We get sad.

[484] We have stressful situations going on.

[485] Nobody stops and things that if somebody can go in their state and get an abortion that don't make things so much easier for them.

[486] Like, goodness gracious.

[487] I have to go home and figure out what I'm going to do in the next month.

[488] Like, the next month is in a couple of weeks.

[489] Like, what am I going to do, you know?

[490] Like, what am I going to do?

[491] After talking to us, on Tuesday afternoon, Samara gets her abortion.

[492] It takes about 10 minutes.

[493] And at the end of the day, she's one of the last patients in the recovery room.

[494] And as she's sitting there...

[495] I know it's COVID, but can I give you a hug?

[496] Okay.

[497] She meets Jennifer from the front desk.

[498] desk.

[499] So grateful for you.

[500] I don't even have your name, but it's my name.

[501] I'm Jennifer.

[502] Yes.

[503] They had cried together on the phone when Samara booked her appointment, and both remembered each other.

[504] How were you feeling?

[505] It was super easy, no pain, just I'm a little tired, but other than that.

[506] And you're going to feel so, you're going to just feel so much better.

[507] And just know, when you go home, it's done.

[508] I made it so, so simple.

[509] Like, I didn't have to ask a single question.

[510] Do you want me to give you your aftercare instruction?

[511] and we can get you the hell out of here.

[512] Jennifer reads Samara her discharge instructions.

[513] You're going to cramp.

[514] That's normal.

[515] So Samara can leave the clinic and start heading back home to Texas.

[516] Do it every eight hours as you need.

[517] Do you know how to massage your abdomen if you start crimping?

[518] Okay.

[519] You can get pregnant immediately.

[520] When I go back, I'm setting up an appointment.

[521] I'm going to get IUD this time with my insurance back in Texas.

[522] Yeah, that's perfect.

[523] Other than that, please be careful.

[524] I know you're flying, but be careful.

[525] I'm so sorry about your state.

[526] I just hope they don't do the same thing to you guys.

[527] I'm nervous.

[528] I'm getting...

[529] Luckily, with the Texas thing going on for now, it's enough to keep my mind off of what should be happening.

[530] Later today, a federal judge is going to hear arguments from the Justice Department and the state of Texas on whether to temporarily suspend the Texas law.

[531] We'll be right back.

[532] Here's what else you need to know today.

[533] This vote says we are keeping the government open.

[534] The Senate and the House passed a short -term spending bill on Thursday, which would fund the government until early December, a move that avoided a much -feared government shutdown.

[535] It is a very, very bad thing to let the government shut down.

[536] But at this time in particular, where there is so much going on in this country, and it does, it is a glimmer of hope as we go through many, many, many, other activities.

[537] The bill passed both chambers on a bipartisan basis, with 15 Republicans in the Senate joining all Democrats in favor of the bill.

[538] The spending package gives lawmakers more time to negotiate over a number of other bills that make up the bulk of President Biden's agenda.

[539] I think there's many ways to get to where they want to, just on everything at one time.

[540] But that agenda was thrown into doubt on Thursday, when Joe Manchin, senator from West Virginia, a Democrat, said he was a would not support President Biden's sweeping social safety net bill at the price tag of $3 .5 trillion.

[541] Instead, he said he would vote for the bill at $1 .5 trillion, far less than the president had been asking for.

[542] My top line has been 1 .5 because I believe in my heart that what we can do and what the needs we have right now and what we can afford to do without basically changing our whole society to an entitlement mentality.

[543] Manchin's vote is critical because Democrats are trying to pass the package over united Republican opposition, and they cannot afford to lose even one vote in the evenly divided Senate.

[544] Today's episode was produced by Claire Tennis Getter, Caitlin Roberts, and Jessica Chung, with help from Daniel Gamette.

[545] It was edited by Lisa Chow and engineered by Chris Wood.

[546] It featured original music by Marion Lazzano and Alicia B. YouTube.

[547] Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonderly.

[548] That's it for the daily.

[549] I'm Sabrina Tavernisi.

[550] See you on Monday.