April 10th, 2013

Relief and disappointment

President Obama unveiled his 2014 budget this morning. We commend the President for striking restrictions on D.C. funding of abortion for low-income women in his budget and for moving to lessen some of the restrictions on coverage for women in the Peace Corps. However, we join many other groups in the women’s health and rights community in our disappointment that he did not take a critical step toward lifting the current Medicaid coverage ban. President Obama could have taken this historic opportunity at the dawn of his second term in office to present a clean budget to Congress; he did not.

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Categories: abortion restrictions, DC Abortion Fund, economic justice, Funds, Hyde Amendment, unfair laws

March 27th, 2013

Gratitude and condolences to the family of Thomas Moss

Twenty years ago this spring, a group of activists came together to form the National Network of Abortion Funds to address the huge unmet need created by the Hyde Amendment. One of those activists was Thomas Huntley Moss of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a WWII veteran who died last week at the age of 91.

He was proud of the Network and dedicated to the Iowa Abortion Access Fund, the local abortion fund that he chaired from in 1987 until 1999. The Iowa Abortion Access Fund is one of the oldest abortion funds in the country and like many of the founding funds in the Netwok, began as a clergy consultation service in the days prior to Roe v. Wade, helping countless women and girls over the decades since its formation in a small town in Iowa.

Thank you, Tom. RIP.

Read the complete obituary in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, here.

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Categories: Funds, Iowa Abortion Access Fund

March 7th, 2013

Hyde hurts...and Helms hurts, too

On March 7, 2013 we joined the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Rights, Forward Together, Ipas, SisterSong, and several abortion funds in an online chat to talk about the impact of abortion funding restrictions on rural women, women in poverty and women of color--both in the United States and, via the Helms Amendment, well beyond our borders. Check out the slide show for some highlights of our discussion!

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Categories: abortion restrictions, Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund, economic justice, Funds, Hyde Amendment, immigrants' rights, International Funds, Medicaid, New York Abortion Access Fund, unfair laws

February 8th, 2013

Blizzard hitting Northeast may affect patients seeking help

ALERT: Due to the blizzard hitting the Northeast, thousands of flights to New York City and New England have been cancelled, and public transportation is shut down today in Boston.

Anyone living in or travelling to affected areas who has an appointment for an abortion today or tomorrow may need to reschedule and make new arrangements for childcare, travel, and time off work.

Please know that besides these logistical difficulties, delaying an abortion can mean an increase in costs, as well -- as little as a one week delay can mean an increase in price, and the George Tiller Memorial Fund may be able to help.

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Categories: Funds, George Tiller Memorial Fund

January 29th, 2013

"Stories like this are what inspire me to continue to do this work."

"I talked with a woman who had two children and had already gone to everyone she knew and had asked for everything that she could. She was faced with either not paying rent that month or having a child that she didn't feel that she could... " Tanisha Humphrey works at Advocates for Youth and volunteers with the DC Abortion Fund, where she sees the impact of the ban on Medicaid funding of abortion firsthand.

Watch the video here, and then sign this letter to President Obama asking him to present a clean budget to Congress this year, free of abortion funding restrictions!

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Categories: abortion restrictions, DC Abortion Fund, economic justice, Funds, Hyde Amendment, Medicaid, TakeAction, unfair laws

January 27th, 2013

Melissa Harris-Perry Show features abortion funds activist Steph Herold

"We cannot forget the basic issue of access to abortion." Melissa Harris-Perry features New York Abortion Access Fund board member and funds activist Steph Herold on her Saturday morning show to continue the discussion of the reality of abortion rights in women's lives 40 years after Roe v. Wade. Watch the video here:

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Categories: abortion restrictions, economic justice, Funds, Hyde Amendment, Medicaid, New York Abortion Access Fund, TakeAction, unfair laws

January 23rd, 2013

National Network of Abortion Funds Board member Karen Law of Pro-Choice Resources in new video

"She shouldn't have to decide between paying her rent, housing her family, and having an abortion..." National Network of Abortion Funds Board Member Karen Law of Pro-Choice Resources, featured in a new video that urges President Obama and Congress to lift the ban on Medicaid funding of abortion.

Watch the video here, and then sign this letter to President Obama asking him to present a clean budget to Congress this year, free of abortion funding restrictions!

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Categories: abortion restrictions, economic justice, Funds, Hyde Amendment, immigrants' rights, Medicaid, Pro-Choice Resources, TakeAction, unfair laws

January 22nd, 2013

On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade: what are the challenges to abortion access?

On the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, activists took part in an online discussion about the reality of abortion access. Click here to read some of the highlights from abortion funds and other reproductive justice activists.

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Categories: Abortion Support Network, Chicago Abortion Fund, DC Abortion Fund, Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund, economic justice, Funds, Hyde Amendment, immigrants' rights, Lilith Fund, Medicaid, New York Abortion Access Fund, TakeAction, Texas Equal Access Fund, unfair laws

January 16th, 2013

Abortion and reproductive justice activism in the post-Roe era

January's American Journal of Public Health features our own Marlene Gerber Fried, co-founder of the National Network of Abortion Funds, faculty director of Hampshire College's Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, and current Network board member. Her article, "Reproductive Rights in the Post-Roe Era," chronicles the history of abortion rights activism since the passage of Roe v. Wade four decades ago.

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Categories: abortion restrictions, economic justice, Funds, TakeAction, unfair laws

January 1st, 2013

2012 highlights

As we head into a bright new year, we look back at some of our favorite moments of 2012:

1. In January, we commemorated 39 years of legal abortion by participating in the online March for Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice. Over 134,000 people put themselves on the map, telling elected officials that a two-tier system of health care is unacceptable and sending the message to "Keep Abortion Safe and Legal -- and Make it Affordable and Accessible!"
2. We welcomed three new abortion funds to the Network! In Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, there now more options for low-income women. And the New Jersey Abortion Access Fund started funding for the first time in 2012!
3. We broke all records in our 3rd Annual National Bowl-a-Thon for Abortion Access--and we're looking forward to another record-busting year in 2013!
4. In Minnesota, Oregon, and West Virginia, we protected access to abortion for over 275,000 low-income women, fighting attacks on state Medicaid coverage.
5. Minnesota's Pro-Choice Resources opens their "gap fund," the first abortion fund in the nation to specifically help women who qualify for state Medicaid funding get their abortions without delay, instead of waiting weeks for the state to process their paperwork.

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Categories: Abortion Access Network of Arizona, Abortion Support Network, Bowl-a-Thon , economic justice, Funds, health care reform, Hyde Amendment, International Funds, TakeAction