Home About Selected Work Contact

Mary Tuma is a Texas-based freelance journalist who focuses on reproductive rights.  

Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, The Intercept, The New York Times, and Texas Monthly. 

The Guardian •

Abortion providers on two years of Texas ban: ‘We’re living in a devastating reality’

Nearly a year before the US supreme court eviscerated Roe v Wade, the court allowed an unprecedented abortion ban to take effect in Texas, serving as a harbinger of what was to sweep over the rest of the country.

The most restrictive abortion law at the time, with no exception for rape, incest, or lethal fetal abnormality, Senate Bill 8 barred care after six weeks of pregnancy, and carried a private enforcement provision that empowered anyone to sue a provider or someone who “aids or abets” the
The New York Times •

Essay | Texas’ Long History of Hollowing Out Women’s Health Care

In a stunning move, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a sweeping law to take effect in Texas last week that eradicates nearly all abortion care in the second-largest state in the country. Senate Bill 8, signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May, bars abortion once an ultrasound picks up cardiac activity, which is typically around six weeks. This amounts to a near-total ban: Many women are not aware they are pregnant that early. At least a dozen other states have enacted so-called heartb
Mother Jones •

Public funding is pouring into Texas' anti-abortion pregnancy centers while abortion access hangs in the balance

After finding out she was pregnant last fall, B.Z. made an appointment at a Texas crisis pregnancy center, believing she could obtain a medical consultation.

Time was of the essence. A state law that took effect Sept. 1 barred abortions past any detection of embryonic cardiac activity, which is typically as early as six weeks of pregnancy, with no exception for rape or incest.

The pregnancy ce
The Nation •

For the First Time in 50 Years, a Judge Has Decided Whether One Woman Could Get an Abortion

On Thursday morning, in a Texas courthouse, something happened in America that is not believed to have happened since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973: A judge issued a ruling on whether or not an actively pregnant person was allowed to get an emergency abortion.

Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas mother of two, had asked the Travis County District Court to let her terminate a fatally diseased fetus that doctors had told her was threatening her life and her potential ability to have children in the
The Intercept •

The First “Wrongful Death” Case for Helping a Friend Get an Abortion

“Your help means the world to me,” a grateful Brittni Silva texted her best friends, Jackie Noyola and Amy Carpenter, last July. “I’m so lucky to have y’all. Really.”

A month after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Houston mother of two experienced an unplanned pregnancy with her now ex-husband and allegedly sought abortion care with the help of her friends. For nearly a year, Texas had imposed a six-week abortion ban, and a full “trigger” ban would be enacted in just a few weeks. Silva needed
TPR •

To protect her twin baby, Texas woman was forced to seek abortion care out of state

Ashley Brandt and her husband were ecstatic when they learned she was pregnant in May. Married for nearly a decade and living in the suburbs of Houston, they were already parents to a 3-year-old son and had always planned to have more children. Ashley, 31, dedicated herself to motherhood after spending time running an art studio. The couple’s excitement grew when her first ultrasound showed she would have identical twin girls.

“It was such an amazing surprise,” Ashley said. “We love being paren
The Nation •

How One Progressive City Is Fighting to Decriminalize Abortion

When Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion draft overturning Roe v. Wade leaked in early May, Austin City Council member José “Chito” Vela, a progressive, pro-abortion attorney, knew he had to act fast. For nine months, Texans had already been suffering under a “bounty hunter”–style six-week ban, considered the most restrictive abortion law in the country. After the demise of Roe, they would be subjected to a total “trigger ban” that carries stiff criminal penalties for Texas aborti
Texas Monthly •

The Last Independent Reproductive Health Clinics in Texas Struggle to Survive

Dozens of protesters still camp outside Austin Women’s Health Center each week. Perched above a small creek in South Austin and shaded by towering trees, the independently owned clinic, founded in 1976, has historically provided abortion care. That is, until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, allowing a statewide criminal “trigger ban” to take effect, barring nearly all abortion procedures. Despite the fact that the clinic no longer performs abortions, activists continue
The Intercept •

Testifying Against Texas, Women Denied Abortions Relive the Pregnancies That Almost Killed Them

When Samantha Casiano learned she was pregnant last year, she and her husband felt excitement. The 29-year-old mother of four and lifelong Texas resident began collecting baby toys and a bassinet for her fifth child. During a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks, she was chatting up the technician when the room suddenly grew silent. Casiano’s doctor delivered grim news: Her baby had anencephaly, a lethal condition in which the skull and brain fail to develop.

“My first thought was, maybe surgery can fix this, but I was to
The Guardian •

Trump judge’s ruling could ban abortion pill across the US

A Texas judge could soon upend what remains of abortion access across the US if he agrees to a request by far-right groups to reverse federal approval of a key drug used in medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of pregnancy terminations nationwide.

Reproductive rights advocates say the ruling could have a “devastating” impact on the already fragile abortion care landscape, severely eroded last June by the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.

In November, anti-ab