For decades, a small network of volunteer-run nonprofits in D.C., Maryland and Virginia have tried, with limited resources, to help people access abortion services that they were legally entitled to but couldn’t afford. Now, as questions loom over the longevity of Roe v. Wade, these overstretched abortion funds are bracing for demand to intensify more than it already has amid the coronavirus pandemic — and mobilizing to rapidly scale up operations.
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“We were always trying,” said Deepika Srivastava, president of the DC Abortion Fund, which has disbursed more than double the amount of subsidies this year than last. “Then stuff hit the fan really bad and left us with no choice.”
As part of a National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) pilot program, the D.C. Abortion Fund, Baltimore Abortion Fund, Blue Ridge Abortion Fund and Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next six months to hire full-time staffers, invest in fundraising and establish programs that provide practical support for people seeking abortions, such as lodging, transportation and interpreter services.
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The Virginia-based Blue Ridge fund has already hired three new full-time staffers and connected with organizations as far away as Illinois and Alabama. “We’re reaching out to one another before we really need one another,” said Executive Director Tannis Fuller. “No matter what happens … we’re very much prepared to ensure that folks get to their abortions.”
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The goal of NNAF’s Operation Scale Up is that come July 1 next year — by which time more than a half-dozen conservative states may have adopted drastic cuts to abortion similar to those in Texas — abortion funds in and around the nation’s capital will be able to meet the needs of every person who calls asking for help, regardless of whether they are local or out of state, said NNAF managing director Debasri Ghosh. Instead of having to leave voice mails with multiple organizations, hoping they have enough funding that week to subsidize a $500 pill or a $3,500 second-trimester termination, patients would be able to just make one call to access the resources of multiple abortion funds in the Mid-Atlantic region.
If successful, the pilot program will serve as a blueprint for how to transform the fraying patchwork of abortion funds across the nation into a robust support system for those facing legal, financial or practical barriers to accessing abortion, Ghosh said.
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“This is going to be really transformative and important for this region, which is in many ways a destination location for abortion care,” said Brigitte Winter, vice president of the Baltimore Abortion Fund, which recently hired its first two full-time employees as part of the NNAF program.
Maryland has several clinics that offer abortions in the later weeks of the second trimester — a rarity even in liberal areas — and is one of 16 states that allow Medicaid funding to pay for abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit research center based in New York and Washington that supports abortion rights.
Maryland’s proximity to the South makes the deep-blue state a critical resource, Ghosh said, especially as legislative sessions get underway in states such as South Carolina, where Republicans have vowed to push for a Texas-style ban on most abortions. Similarly, in Virginia, abortion rights groups are bracing for a flood of patients from nearby states such as West Virginia and Kentucky, said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.
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“We don’t know exactly how much that increase in demand is going to be,” said Keene. “And that is what is scary.”
Even before the controversial Texas law, Senate Bill 8, the widespread layoffs and economic uncertainty that came with the coronavirus pandemic had been sending more people than ever to abortion funds. In April, the D.C. fund gave out three times in subsidies what it gave in April of last year. In June, the Blue Ridge fund was burning through its weekly budget in a single day.
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The need has only deepened in the wake of the Texas law, advocates say.
A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute found that clinics in places as far away as D.C. and Maryland have seen an increase in Texans seeking abortion procedures since S.B. 8 came into effect. The National Abortion Federation, which administers the largest abortion funds in the country, says they are paying more to transport patients from Texas out of state for procedures — sometimes to clinics as far as 500 miles away — and leaving fewer resources available for other applicants, who turn to local funds.
With more than a month left to the end of the year, the Baltimore Abortion Fund has received 30 percent more callers than in 2020 and 80 percent more callers in the later weeks of their pregnancy, Winter said. The fund has made multiple emergency requests for donations as it continues to draw down on its reserves, she added, and by October the fund had overspent its annual budget by $50,000.
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About 59 percent of Americans think abortion should be legal in most cases and 39 percent think it should be illegal in most cases, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that Americans seem to support the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade by a 2-to-1 margin.
For many communities, however, having a legal right to the procedure does not guarantee access, abortion rights advocates say. Abortion fund organizations have known for years that as long as the federal government retains the Hyde Amendment — a provision that bans federal funding for most abortions — there is likely to be far more people in need of help than they can keep up with. President Biden proposed scrapping the Hyde Amendment in his budget this year but recently indicated that he would sign the Democrats’ reconciliation bill even if it included the provision — a demand of Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.).
The NNAF program will help funds try to meet this demand, but advocates say what is also necessary — and more challenging — is building out programs that can help patients, local and out of state, overcome practical hurdles to accessing abortion.
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NARAL Pro-Choice of Maryland launched the Maryland Abortion Access Alliance in April, recruiting about 30 volunteers to provide lodging, transportation and interpreter services to patients who need them. NARAL Pro-Choice of Virginia has a program, called Practi-Cab, that enlists volunteers in the greater Richmond area to drive patients to and from abortion appointments.
The Maryland program, which will soon be transferred to the Baltimore Abortion Fund, has helped more than 100 patients, said Isabel Blalock, a former NARAL field director who helped to set it up. But because requests can be last-minute, Blalock and another leader of the program have taken on many assignments themselves. In Maryland, where the poverty rate of Black and Latino residents is twice that of White residents, it has also been challenging to recruit volunteers who mirror the backgrounds of patients, Blalock said.
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“A lot of people who can give time and money are older White women,” she said, “And we know that’s not reflective of a lot of people who can’t afford to get abortions in this country.”
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Ariel McIntosh, 30, was stationed in Georgia with the Navy in 2015 when she found out she was pregnant. She had to pay for her abortion because it was not covered by her health insurance, and she felt compelled to tell her supervisors why she was taking the day off even though she felt uncomfortable doing so. Now, as a volunteer with the Baltimore Abortion Fund, she said she spends many of her shifts searching for child care and transportation options for patients.
“There aren’t just financial needs but structural needs that people have,” said McIntosh, who now works as a doula and a medical assistant. “We have a responsibility to provide all of it.”
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a closely watched case that could open the door to overturning Roe v. Wade.
Srivastava, of the DC Abortion Fund, said her organization and others like it are always seeking volunteers. “When there’s all this rage bubbling up and you’re thinking, ‘What can I do?,’ well, your local abortion fund has been doing this for a long time,” Srivastava said.