Erlinda Dasquez is a mother of four who has taken Cytotec before. She told Bloomberg News,

"You’d be amazed at how many people, young people, are taking those pills. I probably know 12 to 20 people who have done this. My cousin just went to the flea market a few months ago."

Cytotec is not always effective in inducing an miscarriage. Often, women can't stop bleeding after taking the pills. Dasquez bled for a month. William West, a doctor at a McAllen health clinic, says he sees women daily who have taken Cytotec or something like it. Many are still pregnant.

If the Texas abortion bill passes, only five clinics will be left in the state. Many more women will be unable to afford legal abortions due to travel — the expense, not to mention time away from work and family, is more than a little hindrance. Cytotec may become the only feasible option.

And that's not just true for Texas women. Mexico has few abortion clinics, because abortion is only legal in Mexico City, which is a far and expensive trip for most. And that's why Mexican women, too, depend on abortion clinics in Texas. An El Paso clinic that would close if the abortion bill passes currently gets 30 percent of its patients from Mexico.

The pro-choice movement has long argued that abortion restriction only leads to illegal, unsafe abortions. The Texas legislature may prove them right. But some illegal, unsafe abortions are already happening now.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.