Many of us woke up on Friday, June 24th to the Supreme Court of the United States announcing their decision of Dobbs v. Jackson overruling Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, paving the way for severe abortion restrictions or all-out bans in at least 26 states. We already know that this doesn't reduce abortion rates, they will just make them less safe and they will disproportionately impact historically marginalized communities. We also know that denial of abortion is inextricably linked to systemic racism, other oppressions, and perpetuates poverty. Taking away the right to an abortion and forced pregnancy is an egregious human rights violation and an assault on bodily autonomy, and goes against global recommendations for abortion as safe and essential health care.
Please find a list of helpful resources below for yourself and your networks.
WHEN PEOPLE ASK WHERE TO DONATE:
Donate to a local abortion fund in your state or across the country (in red and blue states) or to the National Network of Abortion Funds. These are the groups that will be helping people arrange and pay for travel, make clinic appointments, and support them through the process of getting to care in the states where abortion is still legal.
Donate to the Abortion Care Network. This a network of independent abortion providers who already support the majority of abortion travelers. The independent clinics that remain open in states where abortion is legal will need to increase capacity exponentially to be able to serve the influx in travelers from around the country, and they need financial support.
Donate to the Repro Legal Defense Fund and support the amazing lawyers who are fighting to protect reproductive autonomy, and will keep people out of jail.
IF ANYONE YOU KNOW NEEDS AN ABORTION IN A STATE WHERE ABORTION IS NEWLY ILLEGAL
Digital security is key (their digital footprint could be used against them in court!!). Tell people searching for abortion information to use a VPN, use a Tor browser (don't just use incognito mode) & clear all browsing history afterwards. Download the Signal app to communicate with people about abortion-related information and turn on disappearing messages/delete chat history and call logs as soon as possible.
If they want to find a clinic go to: www.ineedana.com. If they need financial or logistical support to travel to a clinic, find and contact a local Abortion Fund.
If they want to self-manage abortion with medications, these organizations can help:
- SASS (secure, confidential information and support for people self managing abortion)
- M&A hotline: 1-833-246-2636 (information and support for people who have pills and have questions about the process)
- Reprocare Healthline: 1-833-226-7812 (information and support for people who have pills and have questions about the process)
- AidAccess (an online telehealth service that will write a prescription and send pills. The cost is ~$200,and the current delivery time for pills is ~4-6 weeks)
*People who are self-managing abortion with pills can also review the Repro Legal Helpline website to understand the legal risks associated with self-managing abortion in different states.
If they have questions about their options or need unbiased support to make the best decision for them, call the All Options Talkline: 1-888-493-0092. Also call the ACCESS REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE Healthline for support in Spanish 888.442.2237 and English 800-376-4636.
If they need/want secure reliable information about abortion and other sexual/reproductive health topics, download Euki App for free (on the App Store and Google Play). Euki doesn't store any of the information entered into the app, in the cloud, or anywhere else—only the user has access to it. People can also set up a personal pin that is not tied to their email or phone number as an additional level of security.
IF PEOPLE WANT TO LEARN MORE OR GET INVOLVED:
- Learn about self-managed abortion or here or here
- Share your own abortion story
- Volunteer with your local abortion fund
- Volunteer with All Options Helpline or ReproCare Healthline
Resource list and text by Caitlin Gerdts with revision from Chiara Bercu and Sofía Carbone.