Abortion funds carry on despite Amendment 4 loss
Florida abortion funds plan to continue helping people access the procedure through financial aid and travel coordination. (Photo illustration by Justin Sullivan/)
Emergency Medical Assistance, a West Palm Beach abortion fund founded in 1975, is on track to spend $550,000 helping people access abortion by the end of the year.
Jessica Hatem, the fund's executive director, said that although the group will continue its mission, its spending pace is unsustainable.
While EMA received an influx of donations since Tuesday's elections, Hatem said the fund may need to cap how many people it awards financial assistance to cover the cost of the procedure and out-of-state travel.
Increase in demand
"We can't keep spending $550,000 every single year. So, it's not like we don't have the money to spend currently. But to plan for the future and especially as this landscape gets more and more hostile. The money needed to take on this hostile landscape is not there," she said in a phone interview with Florida Phoenix.
Last year, before the state law took effect banning abortions after six weeks' gestation in most cases, EMA spent roughly $320,000.
Although Hatem had looked forward to passage of Amendment 4, which would have enshrined abortion in the Florida Constitution, easing demand for the fund's work, it wasn't going to guarantee abortion access for everyone. In any event, although 57% of Floridians supported the abortion-rights measure, it didn't earn the 60% approval needed to pass.
Clients struggled to afford care even before the six-week ban took effect. "Who we serve still wasn't served even under the protections of Roe to begin with, so our mission is to fund abortion and we're going to keep doing that," Hatem said.
No level of support for EMA has compared to the wave of donations the fund received the summer the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Hatem said.
Florida Access Network (FAN) based in Central Florida, has received roughly $10,000 in donations since the election, said Stephanie Loraine Piñeiro, the group's executive director, in a phone interview with the Phoenix.
"We love and appreciate the community support that's coming in, not just monetarily but also a lot of messages of support," she said. The messages gave the team validation and lifted their spirits, Loraine Piñeiro said.
FAN is on track to award $500,000 in support by the end of the year, which is approximately $100,000 more than the group dispersed last year, Loraine Piñeiro said, but that figure doesn't totally reflect the increasing demand , and other groups also step in to cover costs for clients.
In need of donations
With the six-week ban remaining in effect, Loraine Piñeiro worries about prolonged damage to abortion access infrastructure. But she hopes the level of fundraising that went into Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign and the Yes on 4 efforts will now go into the funds helping Floridians access abortion.
"People really put their resources into those campaigns and what we're hopeful is that they're willing to invest in us. We're direct facilitators of making abortion access possible, but we also know that it's a tough economy," Loraine Piñeiro said.
FAN plans a Nov. 30 fundraiser with Neighborhood Fridge, an organization tackling food insecurity. Their goal is $20,000.
In Tampa Bay, another abortion fund is gearing up for a online fundraiser starting on Nov. 11 with an initial goal of $50,000. Since the six-week ban went into effect in May, Tampa Bay Abortion Fund has pledged $401,000 to cover the costs of the procedure and travel for 739 people, according to a press release from the fund.
Funds working together
Travel support, such as airfare and hotels, averages $800 per caller, according to the press release.
"A lot of people who I am helping get out of state have never been on a plane, never left the state, so it's a lot of just coordinating," said Bree Wallace, director for case management at TBAF, in a phone interview with the Phoenix.
Although Tuesday's outcome was heartbreaking for Wallace, she said TBAF and the other abortion funds in the state were ready to continue their work.
"We all absolutely love each other," Wallace said of the relationship between the people managing the funds. "We are there for each other every single day. We talk every single day, and we really tightened up this relationship after Dobbs because we knew we needed to stick together."
Other abortion funds covering Florida include Women's Emergency Network in Miami, Broward Women's Emergency Fund Inc., and Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, which is based in Atlanta.
