USA – Is the ‘tech bro-ification’ of abortion here?

Repro workers and tech experts reveal startling gaps between the promises offered by abortion technologies and the realities facing abortion-seekers and support workers

by Nicole Froio and Jade Jasmine Hurley
June 11th, 2025

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion tech has emerged as a potential solution for an increasingly prohibitive reproductive rights landscape…

This exclusive Prism investigation delves into the role of tech in reproductive health care, finding gaps in how abortion workers are served by tech initiatives, a clash between funding abortion tech and industry layoffs, and tension in how best to address the changing legal landscape for abortion. Interviews with a dozen reproductive health workers, tech specialists, abortion fund staff, and reproductive rights advocates further revealed a lack of investment in backend tools for abortion support workers navigating a progressively underfunded field.

Continued: https://prismreports.org/2025/06/11/abortion-tech-repro-workers/

11.06.2025

Commentary

abortion and tech

abortion and technology

abortion apps

abortion chatbot

Abortion Freedom Fund

Abortion Policy API

Aid Access

Amy Merrill

automated abortion finder

Carolina Abortion Fund

Cathy Torres

Cecile Richards

Charley app

crisis pregnancy centers

If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice

National Network of Abortion Funds

self-managed abortion

Given Trump’s win, should Europeans help Americans travel for abortions?

I started the first abortion fund in Europe 15 years ago. Here’s how to support our American and European sisters

Mara Clarke
6 January 2025

Every time there’s news about abortion in the US, my notifications start pinging. In 2017 – “Will you start sending money to people in Texas who need abortions?” In 2019 – “Will you start helping people from Alabama travel for abortions?” When both the leak and the actual overturn of Roe v Wade happened, and when Donald Trump was elected – “Should we set up pathways for people from the US to travel to Europe for abortions?”

The people asking mean well. Like me, they want a world where anyone who needs an abortion can have one, preferably without having to cross state or international lines. Unlike me, most of these people haven’t spent over 20 years helping people failed by states, laws and healthcare systems have abortions.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/trump-us-abortion-ban-pregnant-travel-borders-europe/

06.01.2025

Commentary

abortion pills

Abortion Without Borders

Mara Clarke

National Network of Abortion Funds

Project 2025

self-managed abortion

USA – Loans and pawned belongings: abortion patients are increasingly going into debt

Abortion debt is swelling. Providers and groups trying to fill the void created by bans are buckling under the weight

Sarah Leonard
Sun 22 Dec 2024

Early this fall, a woman desperate for an abortion messaged the Wild West Access Fund, an abortion fund in Nevada, asking for support. She guessed she was nearly 20 weeks pregnant and didn’t have even a few hundred dollars to spend on the procedure. She wanted to prove she was doing everything she could to raise the money, and said she was trying to pawn her vehicle.

Over the next few weeks she bounced from clinic to clinic, trying to put the money together as the price of the abortion she sought continued to increase. The cost of a first trimester abortion is about $500, around $2,000 in the second, and a third trimester abortion can range from a few thousand dollars to around $25,000. Since the US supreme court eliminated federal protections for abortion, more than a dozen states banned the procedure completely, while others set gestational limits, increasing travel costs for pregnant people in those states.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/22/abortion-patient-debt

USA – ‘Perfect storm’ of crises is leading to cutbacks in abortion care, advocates say

By: Kelcie Moseley-Morris and Sofia Resnick
August 14, 2024

Advocates for abortion access say compounding crises of abortion bans, rising economic costs and systemic health care issues are beginning to cause significant funding challenges and potential disruptions to reproductive care of all kinds.

Several people described it as a “perfect storm” of problems with the U.S. health care system, particularly post-pandemic, and the rise of abortion bans and other reproductive care restrictions in the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June 2022. Many individuals must now travel hundreds or thousands of miles to seek abortion care, and the consolidation of demand at a smaller number of clinics is increasing wait times, which means pregnancies progress to a more advanced stage and the costs balloon further.

Continued: https://alaskabeacon.com/2024/08/14/perfect-storm-of-crises-is-leading-to-cutbacks-in-abortion-care-advocates-say/

14.08.2024

Commentary

Abortion Care Network

Abortion Fund of Ohio

abortion funds

barriers to abortion

Brittany Fonteno

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Erin Grant

Florida Access Network

Keep Our Clinics

Lexis Dotson-Dufault

Lisa Humes-Schulz

National Abortion Federation

National Network of Abortion Funds

Nicole Clegg

Oriaku Njoku

patient assistance funds

Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates

Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Planned Parenthood Great Northwest

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England

Project 2025

Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro

For Olivia Rodrigo Fans, Abortion Rights Are Nonnegotiable in 2024

Nisa Khan
Aug 6, 2024

Two years ago, pop star Olivia Rodrigo had a direct message for the five Supreme Court justices that ruled in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade: “We hate you.”

“I’m devastated and terrified that so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this,” Rodrigo said onstage at England’s Glastonbury Festival before dedicating the Lily Allen song “Fuck You” to the justices, calling each out by name. “[They] have shown us that, at the end of the day, they truly don’t give a shit about freedom,” Rodrigo said to the massive crowd.

Continued: https://www.kqed.org/news/11999092/olivia-rodrigo-fans-abortion-kamala-harris-election-2024

06.08.2024

Commentary

Kamala Harris

National Network of Abortion Funds

USA – A New Normal for Abortion Funds Without ‘Roe’

Despite a constantly shifting legal landscape and donations tapering off, abortion funds are helping as many people as they can with limited resources.

JUL 22, 2024
SUSAN BUTTENWIESER

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, people have been reaching out to abortion funds for help in historic numbers. In the first year after the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the National Network of Abortion Funds, a nationwide network of 100 abortion funds, financially supported more than 100,000 people seeking abortion care. NNAF disbursed over $36 million to people seeking abortions, and an additional $10 million in practical support funding, which includes transportation, lodging, and child care.

The decision also resulted in abortion funds receiving unprecedented amounts in donations. An influx of donations to Indigenous Women Rising, an abortion fund dedicated to Native and Indigenous people in the United States and Canada, allowed the organization to double its staff and expand employee benefits.

Continued: https://rewirenewsgroup.com/2024/07/22/a-new-normal-for-abortion-funds-without-roe/

USA – As abortion rights are further decimated, reproductive health funding remains ‘shackled’ by restrictions

During a critical election year, sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations risk losing funding to engage in partisan politics

by Rebecca. L. Root
July 2nd, 2024

In the months before and following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that struck down the constitutional right to abortion, nonprofits that had long worked to advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights found themselves fighting anti-abortion legislation at unprecedented levels.

Since 2022, the legal advocacy organization the Center for Reproductive Rights has filed lawsuits in multiple states on behalf of women who were denied medically necessary abortion care. In 2022, several organizations, including The Afiya Center and the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, filed a federal class action lawsuit in Texas to protect the ability to help people access abortion out of state. In 2023, the state of Texas and an anonymous plaintiff sued Planned Parenthood over allegations that the organization’s affiliates defrauded the state’s Medicaid system. Also last year, Planned Parenthood Great Northwest filed a federal lawsuit against Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador’s office following a legal opinion issued in March 2023 that said medical professionals in Idaho could be subject to criminal penalties if they referred patients across state lines for abortion care.

Continued: https://prismreports.org/2024/07/02/reproductive-health-funding-shackled/

The Abortion Pill Underground

Since Roe was overturned, thousands of people in red states have found a way to get an abortion—often thanks to providers operating at the edge of the law.

AMY LITTLEFIELD
May 7, 2024

When Kay found out she was pregnant at the end of last year, she knew three things clearly. “I was poor and I had an unwanted pregnancy and knew I couldn’t afford a standard abortion for hundreds of dollars,” she told me. A 29-year-old student already raising one child, Kay lives in Texas, where abortion is banned. The nearest clinic she could find was at least a 12-hour drive away. But Kay thought there might be another option. “I went to Google and started searching if it was possible somehow to receive abortion pills through the Internet.”

It was not only possible; it was much easier and more affordable than Kay had expected. She found online services that offered to ship the same medications that were available in clinics right to her doorstep in Texas for $150 or, if she couldn’t afford that, for free. It seemed so simple that Kay thought it might be a scam. “I was scared I would wait for the pills and they wouldn’t work when I got them,” she said.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/telehealth-abortion-shield-laws/

07.05.2024

Commentary

Abortion Care Network

Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine

abortion funds

abortion pills

abortion pills by mail

Abuzz

Aid Access

Center for Reproductive Rights

Choices Women’s Medical Center

in-person requirement

Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline

National Network of Abortion Funds

self-managed abortion

shield laws

Susan Yanow

telemedicine abortion

Abortion funds run short of money as demand soars and donations fall

Olivia Goldhill
Jan. 23, 2024

The head of the Abortion Fund of Ohio had a sinking feeling as she looked at its end-of-year finances last month. The fund had paid out $1.5 million in 2023 to help close to 4,400 patients get abortions — up from 1,175 the year before — and the pace wasn’t sustainable. If the fund didn’t take a pause for a few weeks, she feared it would run out of money and have to close for good.

The nonprofit stopped taking calls on Dec. 19, and made the “very very difficult decision” to suspend operations until Feb. 1, said Taren Holliman, the organization’s program manager. It’s among a handful of abortion funds that have had to temporarily halt operations as demand outstripped donations. Both the Utah Abortion Fund and Indigenous Women Rising paused for a month last summer after exceeding their budgets, and many more are reevaluating their funding policies and tightening purses.

Continued: https://www.statnews.com/2024/01/23/abortion-fund-warning-demand-up-donations-down/

18 Months After “Dobbs,” Here’s How Abortion Providers and Activists See Things

Abortion funds and logistical support groups are enabling people to travel out of state to obtain abortion care.

By Eleanor J. Bader , TRUTHOUT
December 28, 2023

After the Supreme Court’s June 2022 Dobbs decision eviscerated the already limited federal right to abortion, 14 states — Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia — banned the procedure.

In some of these states, clinics closed. According to The Guardian, 42 U.S. clinics shuttered in 2022, plus 23 more in 2023. But as disturbing as this is, it is not the full story. Despite financial, legal and political obstacles, many clinics in states that have banned abortion have pivoted, continuing to provide essential reproductive health services such as contraceptives, STI testing and treatment, and routine gynecological exams, with some expanding to deliver prenatal and gender-affirming care. In addition, new clinics have opened in states like Wyoming and Maryland where abortion remains legal.

Continued: https://truthout.org/articles/18-months-after-dobbs-heres-how-abortion-providers-and-activists-see-things/