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

A lifeline for many in states with abortion restrictions, abortion funds are being pushed to the brink due to rising costs and a drop in donations

Carter Sherman
Fri 22 Sep 2023

Laurie Bertram Roberts never expected Americans to keep forking over money to pay for other people’s abortions. But the abortion fund director didn’t think it would get this dire.

When the US supreme court overturned Roe v Wade last year, people donated tens of thousands of dollars to Roberts’ organization, the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, which is dedicated to helping people afford abortions and the many costs that come with it. But, in August, Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund had to stop funding abortions. It’s now closed until January 2024.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/22/us-abortion-funds-run-out-of-money-demand-surges


Post-Roe, ‘camping’ has become code for abortions. Activists say it may put people at risk.

Some say broadcasting the coded language on social media is a form of political posturing. Others say it's unnecessary self-censorship.

June 30, 2022
By Morgan Sung and Ben Goggin

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, social media has been flooded by posts from people offering to take people "camping" — coded language for assisting people seeking abortions out of state.

But some activists and experts warn that offering to house strangers isn't as helpful as connecting them with local abortion rights organizations.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/camping-meme-roe-v-wade-abortion-ban-rcna35765


The activists championing DIY abortions for a post-Roe v Wade world

Forget back alleys and coat hangers. Self-managed abortions can be ‘safer than aspirin’, research says

by Poppy Noor
Sat 7 May 2022

Maggie Mayhem knows when she decided to
become a reproductive rights activist. At around 13 she discovered two conditions
in her southern California Catholic girls school’s manual:

If a student was found to have had an abortion, they would be expelled, because
abortion was against the teaching of the Catholic church. At the same time, the
school would not accommodate a student who became pregnant.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/07/abortion-pill-at-home-activists-future-roe-v-wade


A covert network of activists is preparing for the end of Roe

What will the future of abortion in America look like?

By Jessica Bruder
APRIL 4, 2022

One bright afternoon in early January, on a beach in Southern California, a young woman spread what looked like a very strange picnic across an orange polka-dot towel: A mason jar. A rubber stopper with two holes. A syringe without a needle. A coil of aquarium tubing and a one-way valve. A plastic speculum. Several individually wrapped sterile cannulas—thin tubes designed to be inserted into the body—which resembled long soda straws. And, finally, a three-dimensional scale model of the female reproductive system.

The two of us were sitting on the sand. The woman, whom I’ll call Ellie, had suggested that we meet at the beach; she had recently recovered from COVID-19, and proposed the open-air setting for my safety. She also didn’t want to risk revealing where she lives—and asked me to withhold her name—because of concerns about harassment or violence from anti-abortion extremists.

Continued: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/roe-v-wade-overturn-abortion-rights/629366/


A hidden abortion crew prepares to confront a post-Roe America

Driven underground during the pandemic, online abortion providers say they’ll keep supplying pills and services even if the Supreme Court approves state bans.

By DARIUS TAHIR
07/06/2021

The Supreme Court’s decision to review Mississippi’s stringent restrictions on abortion — putting Roe vs. Wade under its roughest stress test yet — is being seen as a call to action for the nation’s community of underground abortion activists.

And they make it clear they’re prepared to defy any laws banning abortion.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/06/abortion-rights-supreme-court-states-restrictions-497821