Sexual and Reproductive Health of In-Transit Migrant Women in Mexico: A Closer Look at the Role of Migrant Shelters

Silvana Larrea Schiavon, University of California, Berkeley
Sylvia Guendelman, University of California, Berkeley
Jay Graham, University of California, Berkeley
César Infante, National Institute of Public Health

The number of in-transit migrant women in Mexico en route to the United States has increased in recent years. During transit, migrant women face heightened risks that adversely impact their sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Migrant shelters are the primary system of response to the various needs of in-transit migrant women in Mexico. However, most shelters are associated with religious congregations whose values prevent the provision of some SRH services, such as contraception, abortion, and gender-responsive care. Through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders working in a border city or at the federal level in Mexico, we explored the response of migrant shelters to the SRH needs of in-transit migrant women and identified additional barriers women staying in migrant shelters face to accessing SRH care. We used the sexual and reproductive health and rights definition of the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission to highlight what rights are and are not being fulfilled by migrant shelters and to provide evidence of the need for comprehensive SRH services and a more responsive SRH policy for in-transit migrant women in Mexico.

Keywords: Migrant Populations and Refugees, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

See extended abstract.