In 2016, Jessica Puk had a second-trimester abortion for a wanted pregnancy that was not viable. She described it as “one of the worst days of my life.”
“It was a terrible loss,” Puk said, “But I was very, very lucky. I had access to the health care I needed.” Puk’s doctor performed her abortion at their local hospital, and it was covered by her insurance with only a $75 copay. “Logistically, it was pretty seamless,” Puk said.
After her abortion, Puk joined a support group for people who had ended a wanted pregnancy. “Learning about all these people from around the country who needed abortions and did not have the level of access that I had — seeing all the barriers that they had to go through — was really eye opening for me.” The cost of an abortion is one such barrier that prevents many from receiving the healthcare they need. In the United States, an abortion costs between $500 and $2,000 on average, not including the cost of travel, lodging, and other expenses. Those with access to an abortion clinic may not even be able to afford it. This is where abortion funds come in; there are hundreds of nonprofit funds across the country that are raising funds to support people seeking an abortion.
A few years after her experience in the support group, and following the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Puk started to look for abortion funds in Connecticut that she could financially support. But Connecticut did not have one. Undeterred, Puk reached out to the National Network of Abortion Funds to see what it would take to start one.
“I learned that they are all autonomous organizations,” Puk said, “and so if I wanted to start an abortion fund in Connecticut, I’d have to start my own nonprofit.”
Over the next few months, the National Network of Abortion Funds put Puk in contact with three other individuals, and together they founded The REACH Fund of Connecticut (Reproductive Equity, Access & Choice) in July of 2021. Puk and her co-founders spent a year talking to abortion funds around the country, reaching out to abortion providers, filing to become a 501(c)(3) organization, and more. REACH launched their fundraising campaign on June 19, 2022 — a week before the Supreme Court announced their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning Roe v. Wade. Since then, they’ve raised over $47,000 of their $50,000 goal, all of which will be given to abortion clinics in Connecticut so that they can fund procedures for anyone unable to pay.
“A lot of folks believe that in Connecticut, because abortion is legal, it’s legally protected, that we’re safe. But legality does not equal access,” Puk said. “While there is a lot of wealth in Connecticut, there’s also a lot of poverty.” In Connecticut, 38% of households cannot afford an unexpected expense like abortion care, and the state ranks third out of the fifty states in highest income inequality. This issue is further pronounced for those on government insurance plans. Liz Gustafson, co-founder of REACH and state director of Pro-Choice Connecticut, explained that any federal employee on a federal insurance plan is not covered for abortions because of the Hyde Amendment — an amendment that barred the use of federal Medicaid funds for covering abortions. “There’s this coverage gap,” Gustafson said, which includes those on private health insurance plans that don’t cover abortions, students in Connecticut who are on out-of-state insurance plans, and those who cannot afford a plan on the insurance exchange but make too much to qualify for state Medicaid.
Others seeking abortions might be insured but unable to use their insurance without risking external consequence. Puk explained that this includes “Minors [who] may not want to use their parent’s insurance because they don’t want to tell their parents,” as well as “people who may be in a domestic violence situation who can’t use their own insurance for safety purposes.”
REACH is not only able to help provide care to those in Connecticut unable to rely on insurance to fund their abortion, but will also support anyone coming to Connecticut from other states to get an abortion — a category that has only been increasing since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade.
Gustafson’s work with Pro-Choice Connecticut has led to the passage of The Reproductive Freedom Defense Act, which has served as a blueprint for similar laws in other states. This act legally protects abortion providers, patients, and others who help patients procure abortions from the “civil enforcement bounty hunter style lawsuits,” as Gustafson describes them, that may come from states like Texas which recently passed a law, S.B. 8, allowing such lawsuits. In short, anyone traveling to Connecticut for an abortion is safe, and Connecticut providers can keep serving them.
States nearby, like Massachusetts, also serve as a safe haven for people traveling to receive abortions. Massachusetts has had abortion funds in place for over thirty years, and currently has four main funds in operation.
Margaret Batten, a board member of the Eastern Massachusetts Fund and the Jane Fund of Central Massachusetts, explained that historically, Massachusetts abortion funds have supported people from nearby states including New Hampshire and Rhode Island. “Increasingly, however, we’re seeing people from much further afield. We’ve seen quite a dramatic uptick in the number of people calling us from Texas — that started in September when S.B. 8 went into effect. But it has continued to increase bit by bit as each month goes by.” Batten’s funds have now also been helping people from states like Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, and Kentucky.
“Simply banning abortion doesn’t eliminate the need,” Batten said. “As long as there are New England states, and states out west like California that are prepared to be points of abortion access, abortion health care will be available. It just raises the cost and the stakes for people.”
As abortion restrictions increase in red states across the country, demand for abortions in liberal enclaves is rising. According to Batten, the increased demand for abortions in New York and Pennsylvania has already forced appointment wait times to upwards of a month, compelling many patients to travel to Massachusetts — placing increased pressure on their already strained abortion clinics. By making abortions more financially accessible in Connecticut to those traveling from out of state, REACH will disperse the pressure currently on Massachusetts abortion clinics.
In response to the heightened demand for abortion services, abortion funds have continued to work together to collect money for people who need abortions. Batten described the collaboration between multiple Massachusetts abortion funds. “Over the years, we have worked collaboratively when there’s been a request for a larger amount of money to cover a procedure,” she said. “The funds will come together and pool resources, and grant what are called solidarity requests to help meet the needs of that person.”
These partnerships and support extend beyond just the borders of one state. Puk told The Politic that when starting REACH, she and her co-founders spoke with many other abortion funds across the country. “That’s the thing I love about the abortion fund community — everyone is so willing to help each other. Because we all want the same thing, right? We all want more accessible abortion.”
Outside of New England, abortion funds and abortion clinics face unique challenges such as the question of legality and the lack of nearby clinics. “I think that there’s a lot of fear in the movement, or maybe just a lot of a larger sense of uncertainty,” explained Tannis Fuller, codirector of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Abortion Fund. “Patients are scared and confused. We’ve been providing a lot more assurances to folks who are calling us; ‘Yes, abortion is legal in Virginia. No, you are not breaking any laws by trying to access an abortion in Virginia.’”
In many of Virginia’s neighboring states, this uncertainty predated the Dobbs ruling. “Folks in Mississippi — which only had one abortion clinic — have effectively been navigating a post-Roe world for decades,” Fuller said, “Because even with Roe, people couldn’t get their abortions because they couldn’t afford them or because there wasn’t a clinic. And so this work just looks a little different. But it’s fundamentally the same.”
In 2020, Melissa Cameron of Columbia, MO, was one of those women who were able to effectively navigating a post-Roe world, a challenge she faced with the assistance of two abortion funds. Lacking insurance and unsure of where to turn, she called the HOPE abortion clinic in Illinois. The clinic reached out to the Missouri Abortion Fund and the Midwest Access Coalition, and together, the two funds financed Cameron’s procedure and gas money. Cameron never interacted with the funds directly — the HOPE clinic handled the transaction and handed her the money she needed upon her arrival at the clinic. Nevertheless, someone from the Midwest Access Coalition reached out to Cameron to offer emotional support prior to her appointment.
“It actually felt like I was talking to family,” Cameron reflected. The individual with the Midwest Access Coalition warned her that there would be protestors outside of the clinic wearing neon vests, a warning that Cameron described as invaluable in her emotional preparation for the procedure. “I shared some of my worries about the whole procedure with them, and it felt like I was talking to a friend. It was awesome. Honestly, I didn’t even expect it.”
After her abortion, Cameron went on to work for a local political campaign, organized several rallies for the “Bans off our Bodies” movement and recently, she had a child when the time was right for her. “People love to tell me like, oh, you’re a good mom, but it wouldn’t have been possible without my abortion — it really allowed me the time to…become who I needed to be to be a good mom. So without my abortion, I just don’t think I would be where I am today.”
Although abortion funds around the country strive to support everyone who needs assistance, their impact is limited by the amount of money they raise. Some abortion funds have grants or large donors sponsoring them, but the majority of money raised is collected through grassroots fundraising; members of the funds work tirelessly reaching out to people they know, seeking donations from small businesses, organizations, and anyone who can support the cause. The National Network of Abortion Funds also organizes a large fundraiser every spring — the National Abortion Access Fund-a-Thon, which brings in capital to be distributed among the regional funds.
Some abortion funds like REACH can only afford to finance the abortion procedures, though Puk explained that in the future REACH hopes to be able to provide support for the logistics of receiving an abortion as well, such as transportation, lodging, childcare, and other costs. Other funds, like the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund, are already providing this logistical support. Beyond emotional and financial support, Blue Ridge also buys bus tickets for patients, rents hotel rooms directly on patients’ behalfs, or sends them money for things like gas. However, these costs add up. Fuller says that often their grants of money to abortion clinics are used up after one day of callers.
Abortion has been plastered across national headlines for the past few months since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, and as a result, many abortion funds have received a surge in donations. But Jessica Puk has some reservations going forward.
“I try to stress this to everyone: this isn’t a moment. It’s a movement,” Puk said. “I am afraid that, especially in a state like Connecticut, where people think we’re safe, that they’re going to stop caring, stop prioritizing abortion access. We cannot think we’re safe. We cannot breathe. Because the fact is, even in a state like Connecticut, we are closer to the edge than many people think we are.”