Patients needed abortion funds even before the fall of Roe v. Wade in order to access care, but those needs have skyrocketed after Dobbs and as the abortion access landscape becomes more fractured. Tyler Barbarin, Director of Grants and Development for the Louisiana Abortion Fund, sits down to talk with us about how abortion funds are working overtime to help people access the care they need in the United States.

 

An abortion fund acts as mutual aid, facilitating and providing access to logistical help for those seeking abortion care. Before the fall of Roe, abortion was still incredibly difficult to access in multiple regions of the country. Abortion funds coordinated logistics, organized travel, scheduled appointments, counseled patients before and after medical visits, and fundraised for access costs. In the current legal environment, abortion funds and their ability to assist patients varies from state-to-state. In Louisiana, for example, abortion is illegal, so abortion funds in the state may look like coordinating travel to and care in states where abortion access is still possible. The logistical, informational, and financial barriers that people now face are astronomically larger due to multi-state travel being introduced to the abortion access landscape. 

 

Many—particularly cisgendered, straight white women—will have the resources and support to access an abortion even in environments that make it increasingly difficult to do so. Those who are most impacted by abortion-restrictive registration are BIPOC folks, those with limited or low incomes, and those who are already parents. And, despite abortion fund’s best efforts to assist, some barriers to abortion care will now be completely insurmountable to some, especially those who are most marginalized. 

 

Links

Louisiana Abortion Fund
Louisiana Abortion Fund on Twitter
Louisiana Abortion Fund on Facebook
The South Has the Answers
Louisiana Abortion Fund’s 2022 Annual Report
Plan C
Abortionfinder.org
Ineedana.com
Repro Legal Helpline
Repro Legal Defense Fund
Digital Defense Fund

For more information, check out Future Hindsight: https://www.futurehindsight.com/

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