Abortion Rights Gift Giving
Need a last minute present? We've got you covered!
It’s that time of year! Let’s celebrate the season by supporting some amazing abortion rights groups—and you can donate in someone else’s name if you want to turn that support into a thoughtful gift. What better present than making meaningful impact where it’s needed most?
Before I share some groups with you, something fun: I just launched hats at the Abortion, Every Day merch store! Admittedly, these won’t be delivered in time for the holidays—but consider them a gift to yourself. 😉 You can bet on seeing me with the Abortion 2024 one everywhere.
Give the gift of funding abortion
Let’s start with abortion and practical support funds: These are the folks who are making shit happen. They’re working overtime—largely as volunteers—to ensure that the people who need abortions can get them. They’re working directly with patients to fund their abortions, along with any necessary travel, hotel rooms, or child care. They’re also doing all that logistical work to make sure that patients’ care goes as smoothly and compassionately as possible.
Abortion funds have always been essential, but their importance has taken on new meaning since Roe was overturned. And in the last few months, donations to these groups has dropped off. So let’s end the year off right by giving generously!
You can donate on behalf of yourself, or give someone the gift of supporting abortion rights by donating in their name. If you want to find an abortion fund in your community, click here.
Abortion, Every Day also asked around about which funds might need the most help. Here are groups that are seeing a huge uptick in patients—with some spending six figures every month to help people, and they’re still not able to cover everyone who calls: DC Abortion Fund, Baltimore Abortion Fund, Chicago Abortion Fund, Florida Access Network, Brigid Alliance
Support legal & medical groups
It’s not just abortion funds that need your help. Since Roe was overturned, we’ve watched as women are denied life- and health-saving health care, while others are criminalized for their pregnancy outcomes. In the background, doctors are fleeing anti-choice states, and medical students are struggling to get the reproductive health training they need to provide their patients with adequate care. All of which is to say: legal and medical reproductive rights groups have their work cut out for them right now.
If you’re a long-time reader, you know that Abortion, Every Day loves Pregnancy Justice. This organization has been working on criminalization for years—defending clients who’ve been arrested or prosecuted for having miscarriages or stillbirths, and tracking criminalization trends. They’ve long been vanguards in the movement, connecting the dots and predicting exactly what we’re seeing in a post-Roe reality. Donate to Pregnancy Justice here.
If/When/How is another incredible group working on criminalization—right now they’re helping Brittany Watts, the Ohio woman who was charged with ‘abuse of a corpse’ for flushing her miscarriage. They’ve also put out vital reports on how criminalization works, hold legal trainings and more. Donate to If/When/How here.
We can’t talk about legal organizations without talking about Center for Reproductive Rights. CRR has been challenging abortion bans left and right and is on the forefront of repro rights legal work. They’ve challenged Texas’ abortion ban on behalf of 21 women whose lives were endangered by the state law, and they represented Kate Cox—the Texas woman who was denied an abortion despite her dangerous and doomed pregnancy. Donate to CRR here.
Finally, let’s talk about Medical Students for Choice. As reproductive and maternal health deserts grow, this group has been working for decades to ensure that the next generation of doctors are given comprehensive reproductive healthcare training no matter where they live. They mobilize students in their own schools and communities, hold thousands of events and trainings each year, and provide funding to the students who need it. (Fun fact: the org is led by the incomparable Pamela Merritt, who was my Feministing coworker back in the day!) You can donate to Medical Students for Choice here.
Truth (and data!) matters
In the often-overwhelming post-Roe landscape, it’s more important than ever that we have accurate, trustworthy and feminist-minded data on the impact of abortion bans. Two groups that have been absolutely vital are the Guttmacher Institute and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH). Guttmacher has been doing the incredibly difficult work of tracking anti-choice legislation, releasing reports on patient trends, and delving into the nuances of the issues that matter. Plus, they’re doing it in a way that’s accessible to reporters, researchers and anyone else who needs reproductive health and rights stats. (Have you ever seen their data center??) Donate to the Guttmacher Institute click here.
ANSIRH is one of my favorite organizations—not just because of their research, but because of the clear-eyed feminist lens they bring to all of their work. Abortion, Every Day has cited their work often, from their report on depictions of abortion in television to the harms caused by denying women abortions. Donate to ANSIRH here.
Help Palestinian women & children
Right now, there are tens of thousands of pregnant women in Gaza who are at risk for life-threatening complications. Stress-induced miscarriages, stillbirths and premature births are on the rise, and with hospitals destroyed or closed the World Health Organization is predicting massive increases in maternal death.
The Palestinian Family Planning and Protection Association (PFPPA) provides direct reproductive health services to women and girls in Gaza, raises awareness of sexual health issues and comprehensive sex education, and provides trainings to community leaders and activists. PFPPA, which is a local member association of International Planned Parenthood Federation, had one of its health centers destroyed in an October airstrike—which, as you can imagine, has made their difficult work exponentially more challenging. Donate to PFPPA here.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) does policy work and operates mobile clinics to provide help where it’s needed most across the region. The group also has a program dedicated to birth control, OBGYN care, prenatal care and other reproductive health care services. Donate to PHRI here.
Finally, you all know that reproductive justice isn’t just about about birth control and abortion—but women’s right to have their children safely, and to keep those children safe. Palestine Children’s Relief Fund does everything from providing free medical care to injured and sick children, to distributing hot meals on the ground. Donate to PCRF here.
And happy holidays to our fabulous readers!
Jessica, do you have any information or updates on the religious freedom lawsuits brought by Jewish women against bans in Kentucky, Indiana, and I think a few other states? I would think that the groups representing them would also be good candidates for a little bit of holiday giving...