BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The city of Brownsville joined over 500 cities on Saturday in a national women’s march to protest the recent ban on abortion.

The march began at South Linear Park, down East 7th Street to Washington Park, and then back to Linear.

“It’s very symbolic to be here precisely in Brownsville. We’re in front of one of the federal courthouses and we’re here to just let our politicians know that we don’t like the laws they’ve been making lately,” said Latina Institute Texas Field Coordinator, Paula Saldana. “They affect my community. They affect the immigrant community and they limit the availability for our reproductive services in a great way.”

For the founder of a project that allows for women to share their stories of abortion, ‘Abortion Chat,’ Lynne Schmidt told ValleyCentral she may not have been alive today without that choice.

“My solution was to end my life and so I put a plan in place. The date was October 19. My plan was to jump off the bridge in the Outer Banks of North Carolina,” said Schmidt.

A couple of days after setting a plan, a close friend of Schmidt’s reminded her that she needed to choose herself and what was best for her, and so she got an abortion and she said getting one was the best decision of her life.

Women at the protest stated that Texas legislators have “made the wrong decision” in passing that legislation and they will continue the fight for reproductive rights until the legislation is overturned.

Awesome Women in Action Group’s Committee Chair, Teresa Saldivar commented that she has granddaughters and wants to make sure that they have a choice when they are older.

While in Texas, Senate Bill 8 prohibits women more than 6 weeks pregnant to receive an abortion, Planned Parenthood South Texas will provide those women information when seeking out-of-state options. If one does not have the financial means of getting to a provider, the childcare, hotel, and other expenses, funding can be provided to assist women, according to Planned Parenthood South Texas’ RGV Community Coordinator, Nubia Reyna.

Planned Parenthood South Texas does not offer abortions at any of their clinics, even before the passing of SB 8 in May, but for those women who are less than 6 weeks pregnant seeking an abortion will be referred to a clinic that does offer that service.

Planned Parenthood South Texas is working to have more events that raise awareness on reproductive rights. They also have more information on reproductive education on their website.