Tina Hester

Jane's Due Process

Tina Hester, who’s worked on reproductive justice for more than 20 years, is executive director of Jane’s Due Process, a legal hotline for pregnant minors in Texas. She has worked on the issues of abortion and women’s health in California, Kentucky, New York, and Texas. A native of Lubbock, Texas, and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she lives in Austin.

That Time I Told Phyllis Schlafly About My Abortion

I gathered my courage and asked her why she didn’t think women were capable of making serious decisions. I told her that I had an abortion in my 20s, and I had thought long and hard about it. I didn’t need a state-sanctioned speech or waiting period to help me make my decision.

I Help Teenage Girls Get Abortions

When Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed into law a sweeping abortion measure, my heart broke for all of “my girls”—Texas minors seeking to terminate a pregnancy through the judicial bypass process.