West Fund relaunches El Paso abortion fund helpline after four-year pause

EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — After a four-year pause in operations, El Paso’s only abortion fund has relaunched its helpline.

West Fund, an abortion fund helpline founded in 2013, offers financial assistance to cover health care costs for people seeking abortions.

The nonprofit shut down in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a decision that ended the federal constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years.

“We relieved our volunteers, and then it was just our helpline manager kind of holding things down for a while until we ultimately closed the helpline,” said Shayla Alves, executive director of the West Fund.

Speaking to KFOX14/CBS4 on Thursday, Alves said that while the nonprofit went through internal shifts during that time, it was able to work with other clinics and organizations, bringing in grants to two New Mexico clinics.

“We started sending out grant funding to two clinics in New Mexico with which we have strong partnerships. And that’s something that we’re still doing, but that was our only way that we were offering funding in the time that the helpline was closed,” Alves said.

However, Alves said the absence of an abortion fund in El Paso was not only felt by those in the borderland, but it had put more pressure on other organizations to help bridge the gap.

According to Alves, before the overturning of Roe v. Wade, West Fund was helping 100 to 600 people per year, leading to a significant gap in resources when the helpline closed.

“In the time that we’ve been gone, other funds across Texas have had to pick up the slack and take on El Paso callers. And so, it felt like there’s an empty space where West Fund was, and other people are having to take on that burden. And so now we have to step back into that role because people still need funds for abortions,” Alves said.

Relaunching the helpline earlier this month, Alves said she now expects to see anywhere between 150 to 200 people just by the end of 2026.

“Right now, since we’ve pretty much rebuilt the helpline from scratch, you know, we want to focus on what the trends are like. Sometimes there are down periods where, you know, folks are not receiving abortion care as much, and then other times, people are calling a lot,” Alves said.

West Fund relaunches El Paso abortion fund helpline after four-year pause (Credit: KFOX14/CBS4)

How does West Fund work?

West Fund, which receives grant funding in addition to donations, is made up of two employees, Alves and Catalina Camacho, who is the co-founder of Chuco Community Doulas and serves as West Fund’s helpline manager. The non-profit also includes a three-person board and hopes to add more board members in the future.

While the nonprofit organization provides funding strictly for medical services, it also connects clients to other organizations that could provide more financial assistance for logistical expenses, such as transportation and lodging,

According to Alves, for those seeking assistance, the helpline currently operates as a text line rather than a call-in hotline. People can text the phone number 915-233-0064, where the helpline manager will provide a link to an intake form asking about what kind of support they’re seeking.

“So the way that the helpline operates right now is it’s a text line. So you would text our phone number, the helpline manager would reach out to you and try to get more information about if you’re even in our service area,” Alves said. She added that some people contact the fund for other resources and referrals, while others are seeking abortion care or other reproductive care. “It’s very much on a case-by-case basis,” Alves said.

Abortion funds in Texas

The relaunch comes amid continued legal and political battles over abortion access in Texas and across the country.

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion rights have been left to states to decide, with 18 states including Texas banning or limiting abortion.

In 2021, Texas Senate Bill 8, or the Texas Heartbeat Act, passed, effectively banning abortion and criminalizing physicians from performing an abortion in almost all cases, except when a woman’s life is at risk. The legislation also allows private citizens to sue anyone who “aids and abets” an abortion in the state. However, it does not apply to out-of-state abortions.

Additionally, the state has continued to introduce and pass legislation limiting abortion rights. In 2025, House Bill 7 was passed, allowing private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures or distributes abortion drugs to or from Texas, including out-of-state physicians who use telehealth.

While abortion is banned in the state, abortion fund organizations have continued to operate in the state, financially helping those seeking reproductive and abortion healthcare.

West Fund joins a network of more than five abortion funds across the state that provides financial assistance to people who cannot afford an abortion.

However, according to the Texas Observer, abortion fund organizations across Texas in recent years have continued to grapple with a decrease in donations and the price of abortion care as Texans are often forced to travel hundreds to thousands of miles for abortion care.

For Alves, having an abortion fund in West Texas and the borderland is critical for this reason, especially for low-income people of color.

“In the time that we were closed, people from El Paso still needed abortion care and had to reach out to places to funds that are extremely far away from them. And so, to be able to have access to this type of resource, I think, is crucial. And I think it speaks to how people need healthcare in general across the board. To not have access to abortion care, that’s a lack of access to healthcare,” Alves said.

Alves also spoke on the long-running uncertainty around abortion access in the state.

“Abortion in Texas has always been this sort of like back and forth. And I mean, for a long time, abortion care was not really accessible here in El Paso. So having to tussle with that and tussle with the sort of legality of it all, that’s kind of always been the name of the game, unfortunately. And so the risk that’s involved, folks who come into this work already know the risks that are involved and agree to do it regardless- and it’s never, I mean, they’re always trying new things, right? Like our opposition is always trying new things to try to stop us or hold us up in some way. But I mean, they haven’t been successful yet,” Alves said.

West Fund relaunches El Paso abortion fund helpline after four-year pause (Credit: KFOX14/CBS4)

What’s next for West Fund?

Looking ahead, West Fund said it is looking into expanding its funding to other forms of reproductive health care and creating a community space for El Pasoans.

“I wanna invite folks to come to the call center and learn about what we do here, and I think the community conversations are important. So that we can tackle maybe a lack of understanding or, you know, even a lack of empathy. I would love to be able to have those conversations, to talk through that, and to remind everyone that this is a resource for the community, and we just want to be able to meet the needs as they come to us,” Alves said.

West Fund will also be hosting an open house event on Saturday at their office located in central El Paso from 12:00 p.m.- 2:00 p.m. Alves said the event is intended to reintroduce the organization and invites others to speak on what they would like to see from West Fund.

“It is really kind of a way to reintroduce West Fund. I think in the time that we’ve been gone, folks have either forgotten about West Fund or folks think that we’ve closed down and just stopped operations altogether. And so this is a way to kind of put ourselves back out there into the fold and say, hey, like, you know, we’re still here, and we’re back and hopefully better than ever and available to be a resource to the community,” Alves said.

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