An abortion fund is a
non-profit organization that provides financial and logistical assistance to individuals who cannot afford the costs of an
abortion.
[Towey S, Poggy S, and Roth R (2005). ''Abortion funding: A matter of justicity.'' Amherst, MA: National Network of Abortion Funds.] Abortion funds play a role in financing abortion services in countries where abortion is legal but not accessible. For example, health insurance may not cover abortion or transportation to abortion clinics may be financially or logistically infeasible. Abortion funds also provide assistance in cities, states, provinces or countries where abortion is illegal and women travel elsewhere to obtain a legal abortion.
Function
Abortion funds determine the amount of financial assistance based on individual need.
Clients are interviewed individually and are expected to contribute as much as possible
out-of-pocket
An out-of-pocket expense (or out-of-pocket cost, OOP) is the direct payment of money that may or may not be later reimbursed from a third-party source.
For example, when operating a vehicle, gasoline, parking fees and tolls are considered out-of ...
, with the remainder provided by the fund as grant and/or repayable loan. Abortion funds rarely provide funding for the entire procedure.
Some funds will combine resources with other funds to increase the grant or loan total.
Most abortion funds serve a particular region or metropolitan area.
Some abortion funds are related to a specific clinic, with funds available only for patients of that clinic.
In addition to covering medical costs, some abortion funds provide child care, transportation assistance, meals,
doula services, and other support services.
Most abortion funds are funded primarily by local donors and grant-making institutions.
However, in 2019, the New York City Council allocated $250,000 to a local abortion fund for patients traveling from other states to New York for an abortion. Planned Parenthood clinics also have their own internal funding mechanism called the justice fund. Additionally, many independent abortion clinics in the U.S. offer discounts for students, military personnel, and patients who are Medicaid recipients.
Abortion funds operate in a number of countries. The
National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) is an umbrella group for local abortion funds in the
United States, and operates the
Tiller Memorial Fund.
The
National Abortion Federation (NAF) operates a toll-free hotline for abortion funding and referrals in the United States and Canada.
The NAF hotline also provides options counseling, case management for people with special needs, and may provide travel or additional funding assistance.
The Women's Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP) is another national abortion fund in the U.S., created by the L.A.
National Council of Jewish Women in 1991, which funds approximately 1000 people's abortion procedures across the U.S. per year. The
Abortion Support Network serves residents of
Ireland,
Northern Ireland, the
Isle of Man,
Malta and
Gibraltar
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who need to travel for an abortion. The MARIA Abortion Fund for Social Justice provides financial, logistical and emotional support to access legal abortion services in
Mexico City. Women Help Women is an online non-profit organization that provides medical abortion, contraception and emergency contraception to women globally, excluding the U.S., Canada, and parts of western Europe. The Women Help Women site also redirects callers to local abortion funds, resources, and hotlines.
Legislation
State, federal or global legislation may also impact abortion accessibility as well as financial assistance for abortion. In the United States, federal funding for abortion through Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income residents, is banned except for cases of incest, rape, and life endangerment due to the
Hyde Amendment. In addition, as of 2019, 33 states and the District of Columbia prohibit the use of state Medicaid funds for abortion, and 11 states restrict private health insurance for abortion.
Furthermore, U.S. legislation known as the
Mexico City Policy, the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, or the
global gag rule, prohibits U.S. foreign assistance to organizations unless they promise not to perform or actively promote abortion as a form of family planning. This applies to public health organizations which may provide funding assistance for or information about abortion. The Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF) was established in 2006 by
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to fund local organizations that have been impacted by the Global Gag Rule, including those that fund abortion.
Abortion costs in the United States
Cost is a common barrier to obtaining an abortion in the United States. The cost of an abortion varies by facility, type of abortion, and
gestation
Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregna ...
of the pregnancy. As of 2014, the median cost of a
procedural
Procedural may refer to:
* Procedural generation, a term used in computer graphics applications
*Procedural knowledge, the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task
* Procedural law, a legal concept
*Procedural memory, a cognitive scienc ...
or
medication abortion in the first trimester is estimated to be about $500, and about twice as much in the second trimester.
This does not include non-medical costs, such as transportation, lodging, childcare and lost wages.
U.S. abortion patients are poor or low-income,
and most do not carry insurance coverage that pays for abortion. Private health insurance does not always cover abortion, and public health insurance covers abortions only within certain circumstances. As a result, the majority of abortion patients incur high out-of-pocket costs when receiving abortion services.
The out-of-pocket costs of abortion contribute to delays in seeking care,
which can further increase costs for the procedure and for travel to clinics that offer abortion at later gestation.
Legality
Lawmakers in
anti-abortion
Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...
states have been targeting and threatening abortion funds and their donors with criminal prosecution under their state's abortion statutes. On March 18, 2022, State Representative
Briscoe Cain
Briscoe Cain (born December 9, 1984) is an American attorney and Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 128.
Early life and education
Briscoe grew up in Deer Park, Texas, a suburb of Houston located in Harris Cou ...
sent cease-and-desist letters to every abortion fund in Texas, declaring them "criminal organizations" and demanding that they immediately halt payments for elective abortions performed in Texas.
Cain warned abortion funds that they were violating
Texas's unrepealed pre-Roe abortion statutes by aiding or abetting elective abortions, and exposing each of their employees, volunteers, and donors to felony criminal prosecution.
Cain said that
Roe v. Wade did not create or recognize a constitutional right to pay for another person's abortion, and that Roe protects only abortion providers and their patients from prosecution under the state's pre-Roe criminal abortion statutes. In response, abortion funds demanded that Cain retract his claims and threatened to sue him for defamation.
See also
*
Abortion
*
Abortion in Mexico
*
Abortion in the United Kingdom
Abortion in the United Kingdom is ''de facto'' available through the ''Abortion Act 1967'' in Great Britain, and the '' Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No.2) Regulations 2020''. The ''Abortion Act 1967'' provides a legal defence for doctors to per ...
*
Abortion in the United States
*
Hyde Amendment
References
{{reflist
External links
National Network of Abortion Funds- A US-based network of ~70 member abortion funds in about 40 states and the District of Columbia. The Network also runs advocacy campaigns to work toward repeal of abortion coverage restrictions, such as the Hyde Amendment.
National Abortion Federation- A US-based organization providing information, referrals, and assistance with coordinating funding, sometimes from multiple sources.
Abortion Support Network- A UK-based organization that provides advice, financial assistance, and housing for residents of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Malta and Gibraltar who need to travel for an abortion.
MARIA Abortion Fund for Social Justice- A Mexico-based organization that provides financial, logistical and emotional support to access legal abortion services in Mexico City.
Women Help Women - an organization providing medical abortion, contraception, emergency contraception, and information and local referrals globally
Abortion-rights movement
Abortion in the United States