Regina Mahone: Please explain to Repro Nation readers how the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) supports people in accessing abortions.
Chelsea Williams-Diggs: NYAAF is New York's only statewide local abortion fund, and we directly support abortion seekers to access abortions through financial assistance and case management. What that means is we move funds on their behalf directly to abortion clinics and providers, and we also help them navigate this very confusing, intentionally confusing, often harmful system, and make sure that folks both living in and traveling to New York are able to access care in our state.
RM: What has been the most obvious shift you've witnessed in working at an abortion fund since the Dobbs decision in June 2022?
CWD: I think most people understand that abortion funds have seen a growth in callers, so that is the most obvious. What I think is maybe less obvious is that we've also seen growth in the amount of need that each caller needs. So right now NYAAF's average pledge is about $1,000—it was much less before the Dobbs decision. And then, also, the complexity: getting people from a banned state to an "access" state, navigating these really complex systems, and just seeing how more complicated they're getting day by day. So it's more people, more money that they need, and then more support that they need around navigating the complex systems.
And, of course, it's been really difficult in the ways that funds need to show up. It's not as simple as just like, Oh, there's more people who need our help, we need to move more money. It's all these other things happening on the back end. And most abortion funds are either completely volunteer-led or are very heavily reliant on volunteers. Doing all of this work with volunteers is extremely difficult.
RM: What is it about abortion funds and in particular how they are funded that is often misunderstood?
CWD: I think what's really interesting about abortion funds is we've been grassroots funded. In fact, before the Dobbs decision, NYAAF only had one foundation grant. All of our money was coming from individuals giving $20, $50, and so on and so forth. That's really the norm for a lot of abortion funds. We heavily rely on our communities to raise funds for their fellow community members and for people traveling to their community. I think that's really unique and beautiful, but it's also the root of the issue right now. The level of crisis that we're navigating cannot be solved by $10 or $20 donations alone; we need larger institutions and systems to step up, and that includes philanthropy and also local and state governments.
Read more about the ways the reproductive rights movement needs to shift its priorities at TheNation.com.
And if you don't already, Chelsea suggests everyone take these three steps today:
- Follow your local abortion fund on social media.
- Donate directly to your local abortion fund, if you are able to do so.
- Make a donation that is split evenly between 95 abortion funds.
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