‘Feels horrible to say no’: abortion funds run out of money as US demand surges

Laurie Bertram Roberts never expected that Americans would continue to spend money to pay for other people’s abortions. But the director of the abortion fund did not expect it to get this bad.

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade last year, people donated tens of thousands of dollars to Roberts’ organization, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, which works to help people pay for abortions and the many costs that come with them. But in August, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund had to stop funding abortions. It is now closed until January 2024.

“We just don’t have the money,” said Roberts, who co-founded the fund a decade ago. “It is a strategic decision to focus on fundraising over the coming months so that we have money when we reopen.”

For now, the fund — which has also historically helped people with other living and parenting costs — is only offering access to its stock of food and household essentials. This will be the longest the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund has ever been closed.

“I didn’t think emergency funding would stay the same,” Roberts said with reference to post-Roe donation peak. “But I didn’t expect our funding to drop by 35 to 40% compared to last year.”

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, Americans rushed anger-donate millions in abortion funds and clinics across the United States.

Now, with the first year after Roe in the rearview mirror, much of that money has been spent and for many organizations the flow of donations has dried up. And yet, as states continue to enact new bans and restrictions, the demand for help — and the cost of providing that help — has only increased.

The Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund isn’t the only abortion fund that recently had to turn off its lights. In mid-June, just three days before the anniversary of Roe’s overthrow, Indigenous Women’s Uprising announced that the abortion fund had reached its monthly budget and would cease its activities until July. The Mountain Access Brigade, serving people in Appalachia, closed its support hotline for ten days in July save money. mid-July, announced the Utah Abortion Fund that it had already exceeded its monthly budget and would close until the end of August.

“You’re dealing with rising costs and declining donations,” said Hayley McMahon, who serves on the board of the Appalachian abortion fund Holler Health Justice and researches barriers to abortion at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. “These two things together are a perfect storm for absolutely wiping out abortion funds.”

Much of the South and Midwest has now banned or significantly restricted abortion, forcing people in the states seeking abortions to travel further. Over the summer, Indiana, North Carolina and South Carolina all passed major new restrictions, putting even more pressure on abortion funds. In July, the Ohio Abortion Fund helped 355 people. In August, the same month that neighboring Indiana banned nearly all abortions, that number rose to 562.

Lexi Dotson-Dufault, the patient navigation program manager for the Abortion Fund of Ohio, said the money trickling into the fund is simply not enough to meet demand. With three months left in 2023, the Ohio Abortion Fund has already provided assistance to about 2,400 people. That’s 700 more people than it helped in 2022, and almost three times as many people as it helped in 2021.

“We don’t want to put limits on what we can give people,” Dotson-Dufault said. “I think if the money doesn’t come in the way we need, we’ll have to.”

Three-quarters of American abortion patients have incomes below the federal poverty line. The cost of an abortion, meanwhile, has perhaps never been higher, with more and more people having to travel for the procedure, buy flights and gas, book hotel rooms and take time off work. More than 60% of people who have had an abortion have given birth before, so they may also need childcare.

Although the vast majority of abortions in the U.S. occur in the first trimester of pregnancy, abortion fund callers are more likely to be in the second trimester of pregnancy, according to a study. survey among callers of the National Network of Abortion Funds between 2010 and 2015. After Roe, people who work at abortion funds told the Guardian that they are now seeing even more people who are later in their pregnancies — which is becoming a problem for both abortion seekers and the funds as abortion becomes increasingly difficult. duration later in pregnancy. It’s also becoming harder to find – not every clinic will perform abortions into the second trimester – meaning people often have to travel even further.

From July 2021 through June 2022, the Missouri Abortion Fund spent approximately $235,000 to help people get abortions. Between July 2022 and June 2023, they spent more than $1 million, but helped only 300 more people than the year before, said Jess Lambrecht, the fund’s executive director. The typical customer used to cost less than $1,000; now they often cost several thousand dollars.

“In principle, our budget has tripled, but so have our costs,” says Lambrecht.

The Nevada-based Silver State Hope Fund has already been forced to be “very, very frugal” in spending money, said Erin Bilbray-Kohn, vice president and acting director of the fund. Within three days of Roe’s death, Bilbray-Kohn raised $50,000 for the fund. But now the fund’s finances have become so strained that it is using the money it once set aside to pay next spring.

Before Roe’s death, the fund spent about $10,000 each year. Now it spends $16,000 every month. So many people are desperate for help: the woman who became pregnant by her abusive partner, the woman with type I diabetes whose pregnancy threatened her life, the girl whose college scholarship would have been in jeopardy if she had had a baby.

“I wake up in the morning with the fear that we won’t have enough money,” said Bilbray-Kohn, who began to cry as she shared her clients’ stories. “I’m working very aggressively to try to raise that money so we can fill that coffers and be in good shape come the spring.”

The Silver State Hope Fund is also currently active to sue, aided by the ACLU, to abolish a Nevada law that prevents people from using Medicaid to pay for abortions. About 80% of people who call the Silver State Hope Fund qualify for Medicaid, Bilbray-Kohn estimates. If the fund wins the lawsuit, many of the current callers could rely on Medicaid and the fund could free up money to pay for other callers.

Abortion funds are not the only abortion rights organizations now looking for money. The clinics left in states that have now banned the procedure are also struggling to stay open as they focus on offering broader reproductive health care services.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the West Alabama Women’s Center had to fold perform abortions and send his patients out of state. Within 48 hours, $180,000 was raised for patient travel, recalls Robin Marty, the clinic’s executive director. “Now I go online and ask for any kind of financing, and every time I do it, we might get $50 to $100,” Marty said.

But by the end of August, Marty estimated she had enough money in the bank to pay her staff salaries through October.

For now, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund phone line is still open; the organization directs people to other, open abortion funds. But the telephone line will be completely disconnected during the month of December.

“I know we’re making the right decision, but it feels terrible to tell people no,” Roberts said. But Roberts added: “If we don’t make strategic plans to ensure we sustain ourselves and support fundraising, we won’t make it. We won’t be here next year, or the year after that, and I want to make sure we’re still here. There is no less battle to fight. It just gets more intense.”