38. Funding Reproductive Freedom

Welcome back to Spend Donate Invest. I know it’s not just me. There are a lot of things that keep me up at night. Climate change, homelessness, the attack on women’s rights. And what surprises me is that we usually talk about how we can vote, or even how we can protest. But I’m curious about the power of our money.

Every week I read a listener letter, do some research, talk to experts, sometimes I’ll read an entire book to be able to provide some thoughts. If you ever want to send in your question, please look for the email address in the show notes. I will never share your name, you have my word on that.

Here’s this week’s letter:

Watching the news lately has felt like watching the Handmaid’s Tale. I have to admit I wasn’t paying attention to the gradual erosion of how secure I thought the right to abortion was in the US. It felt like I woke up one day and all of my group chats were talking about the leaked document from the Supreme Court. I had no idea there was a real threat to Roe v Wade. I live in the DMV so I was able to travel to the Supreme Court to protest. I vote in all elections, not just presidential cycles. But I want to put my money in too. I wish I could buy enough Plan B to hand out in the streets. Or offer to pay for women’s abortions. Something. Any thoughts on this? Should I donate to Planned Parenthood or is there a way to give more locally?

Thank you to the listener that submitted this letter. I suspect there are lots of other listeners wondering the same thing. And hi neighbor- nice to hear from a listener in the DC area.

You mentioned feeling bad about not having realized our rights were being quietly challenged. This was intentional. We weren’t supposed to notice what was going on. Opponents of Roe v Wade have been playing the long game. Quietly. Strategically. And it’s not just abortion. Long time leaders in the education sector that I know here in DC are talking about current threats to Brown vs the Board of Education. That was the a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1950s in which the Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. It’s wild to think that this could be a question in 2022. I would not have believed this was under threat unless I had heard it with my own ears. At this point, I think we have to listen when the activists tell us that the hard won rights are not to be taken for granted. I have been too comfortable too. Or maybe just focused on the rights we have not had yet.

You mentioned protesting, you mentioned that you vote in all elections. Your question was what can we do with our money... I have some thoughts on the long arc of the quiet, gradual, strategic chipping away at women’s rights and how we can use our money to fight this. Another listener wrote in about creating more systemic change with our money, so I have been crafting some suggestions on that is taking me some time, as I talk to experts, and read, and study, and try to learn enough to be helpful.

But in the meantime, we can certainly help with our money in the short term. There are women finding out about unwanted pregnancies every day. I know someone that works as a translator for patients and was telling me last weekend about a recent immigrant whose state banned abortions. A few days after the ban, she discovers that she needs an abortion.  She scraped together the resources to travel to a neighboring state to have the procedure done. In her case the termination was going to take more than one day. And can you believe abortion was outlawed in that state too as she was undergoing the procedure. Her saving grace, and the reason her doctor was able to complete the termination safely was because they had started it before the ban.

Women are finding out about unsafe or unwanted pregnancies every day. You mentioned protesting, and voting in all of the elections.

How can we help them with our money?

I’m going to link a few articles where they have compiled places that you can consider if you are looking to donate into some reproductive freedom funds.

If you want to give locally, in the DMV, there are options. The DC Abortion Fund, known locally as “decaf”, is dedicated to helping women pay for procedures in DC, Maryland and Virginia including women who travel here for this purpose. My understanding is that 90% of the calls come in from the DMV (if you’re not from here that stands for DC Maryland and Virginia.) While we’re talking, they are often enrolling case managers, I want to highlight the need for case managers that speak Spanish. If you speak Tigrinya or Amharic I want to encourage you to consider this as well. Different procedures have different costs, so depending on what is approved for a particular patient, that amount of money is sent to the clinic and then the patient can go and get the medical care that is needed.

Here in DC, abortions cost from $500 to $1,100 depending on how far along the patient is. Following the Supreme Court Roe v Wade leak, the DC Abortion Fund set a goal of $200k for fundraising and gathered that amount very quickly. They have since increased their goal to $300k. It’s going to feel great to fund this type of medical care in our community. That being said, I also tend to think about cities where there aren’t as many deep pockets. DC is a city with incredibly wide income disparities. It’s similar to NYC and the Bay Area in that way. But I tend to worry about areas where there aren’t as many deep pockets. I’m not sure if you’ve ever traveled to states like Mississippi. 91% of women live in counties with no abortion providers. You could donate to the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund. I’ll include links to them in the show notes. If you’re on the mailing list for the show, I’ll send them there as well in the monthly email.

I can’t end without also mentioning two more groups I have been watching. Indigenous Women Rising helps pregnant Indigenous people in the US and Canada who are seeking termination of the pregnancy. If you know about the forced sterilization of Indigenous women in this country, it may baffle you to know that abortions were controlled too. Turns out it has always been about controlling brown and Black bodies. If you don’t believe that, read the history. Indigenous Women Rising might be a group you want to donate to.

And finally I want to mention the Afiya Center. This is a black women founded and led group in North Texas. I believe they started with a focus on HIV/AIDS and have expanded to ensuring holistic reproductive justice for Black women, so this includes tackling issues like the much higher levels of maternal mortality rates for Black women.

I am going to include links to the groups I mentioned in DC, Mississippi, and the Indigenous Women Rising and also the Afiya Center for Black women and girls. Lots of choices.

One last thing, we’ve been throwing around this term “reproductive justice” a lot over the past few weeks when discussing what we are seeking. I am going to link an incredible interview with Activist and Professor Loretta J. Ross who literally changed the global conversation. This entire concept of reproductive justice, the whole framework comes from Black women. You’ll read about that in the interview. I’m going to leave you with some words from that fascinating and moving interview:

She says that when she was 16 and went off to college, her mother warned her not to let success go to her head or failure to her heart. Professor Loretta Ross says
“I don't let our setbacks go to my heart. I just keep working. That's what all activists need to do: we look at the ugliness of the world and we keep on working.”

So let’s do that listeners, let’s not let the setbacks go to our hearts. Let’s keep working.

Thanks for joining for today’s discussion. You can always send in your questions by emailing the address in the show notes. You might be wondering about how you can support the show. There are a number of ways to do this. You can subscribe, on whatever platform you prefer for your podcasts. You can share an episode with a friend- that’s probably the biggest help you could provide right now. It turns out that’s how people discover podcasts. It’s not me telling people about the show, it’s actually you all- the listeners. You can click on the buy me a coffee link. You can also write a review for the show, or click around on your app and see if it let’s you give the show 5 stars. Thanks for your support and let’s talk again soon.

https://dcabortionfund.org/
https://www.msreprofreedomfund.org/
https://www.theafiyacenter.org/programs
https://www.iwrising.org/
https://www.thecut.com/article/donate-abortion-fund-roe-v-wade-how-to-help.html
https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/honoring-a-reproductive-justice-pioneer-an-interview-with-loretta-j-ross