As It Was Before Roe, So It Is Again: "Choice" Often
Comes Down to Money 

Monday, 09 April 2012

By Eleanor J Bader, Truthout | Report

http://truth-out.org/news/item/8157-as-it-was-before-roe-so-it-is-again-choice-often-comes-down-to-money

[Woman, watercolors(Image: Jared Rodriguez /
Truthout]

Evelyn Griesse doesn't hesitate when asked to
explain why she started the South Dakota Access for
Every Woman Fund, a small, grassroots group that
provides direct financial assistance to low-income
women who need abortions. "I had an abortion myself,"
she begins. "It was 1971 or '72 and abortion was not
yet legal in South Dakota. I'd seen an ad in The Ladies
Home Journal that said, 'If you're pregnant and want
info or help, call this number. ' It never used the
word abortion but I called and was connected to a
Planned Parenthood clinic in the Bronx. I was lucky. I
had money, so was able to fly into New York for the
procedure and fly out the next day. I did not go
through any emotional anguish; I was simply relieved
because I did not want to be a single mother."

Upon returning home, Griesse immersed herself in
progressive activism, working with the ACLU and the
National Women's Political Caucus, but says that she
did not pay much attention to the politics surrounding
abortion. Even after Illinois Republican Henry Hyde
introduced an amendment to cut off Medicaid funding for
the abortions of low-income women - unless they were
raped, impregnated by incest or would die as a result
of carrying the pregnancy to term - Griesse remained
unfazed. Then, when the amendment passed Congress in
1977, the floodgates opened. By the early 1980s,
Griesse understood that cutting off Medicaid funding
was step one in what would become an all-out fight to
slowly but surely deny abortion to all US women.

Nonetheless, it wasn't until the mid 1980s, nearly
eight years after Hyde took effect, that Griesse acted
on her feelings. "One day I got a call from someone I
knew who worked at Planned Parenthood in Sioux Falls,"
she recalls. "She asked me if I could do something to
help a woman who could not afford the abortion she
needed. The call let me see that I could do something
directly, concretely, to make a difference."

Since that request, Griesse and a small circle of
friends - they call themselves The Access for Every
Woman Fund - have assisted 30 to 40 Iowa, Minnesota,
North and South Dakota residents a year. They also help
women from other parts of the country who travel to
these states, sometimes helping to defray the cost of
surgery, sometimes contributing to pay for lodging or
transportation.

The South Dakota group, part of the National Network of
Abortion Funds [NNAF] - a Boston-based umbrella
organization that links more than 100 funds scattered
throughout the country - recently incorporated and
intends to branch out, soliciting money more broadly to
meet the skyrocketing number of requests that come
their way. "Some of the women who call us live 300 or
400 miles from the closest clinic," Griesse says. "They
usually don't have a car, or if they do, their car
won't make it that far, so, on top of the cost of the
abortion, they need to raise bus fare. Plus, in this
area, weather is a big concern. Snow and ice often
cause travel delays for doctors as well as patients and
a woman may have to find a place to stay before she can
have her abortion and return home."

And weather is the least of it. When Griesse begins to
speak about the women the fund has helped, her voice
gets softer and the stories she tells become more and
more heartbreaking: There was the 23-year-old who
needed an abortion before she could start chemotherapy,
the 43-year-old mother of five who'd lost her job, the
community college student who was struggling to pay her
tuition, the 31-year-old victim of contraceptive
failure and the abused teen living on the street.

Answering fund hotlines is not for the faint of heart,
says Lindsey O-Pries, NNAF's member support
coordinator. But it is certainly rewarding. Although
NNAF administers the George Tiller Memorial Abortion
Fund, which earmarks grants for late-term surgeries,
local funds turn to NNAF for a savvy blend of empathy
and technical know-how. National staff, say
community-based activists, are always there with a
receptive ear, whether it's to discuss thorny cases or
help strategize ways to raise needed revenue.

"There isn't one model for the Funds," O-Pries adds.
"There are Funds that give out $1000 to $2000 a year
and Funds that disburse $250,000, but the average runs
between $20,000 and $80,000 annually." In addition,
some funds have paid staff while others rely on
volunteers. That said, there are some constants. "None
of the Funds can say 'yes' every time a woman calls and
few Funds pay the entire cost of surgery," O-Pries
admits. In fact, statistics for 2009-2010 are sobering:
While $2.8 million was provided by the funds, only a
fraction of total callers, 21,844 of 124,317, were
aided.

"Grassroots Abortion Funds can never fill the gap
created by politicians who blocked low-income women
from having abortion covered by the Medicaid program 35
years ago," says Stephanie Poggi, NNAF's executive
director. "As proud as we are of our work, we know that
we only meet a small percentage of the overall need."

Worse, as the economy has floundered, the work of
abortion funds has become increasingly difficult. "Ten
years ago the callers were typically women who had lost
their jobs," O-Pries continues. "Now the intensity is
increasing. She not only lost her job; she is homeless,
and has three kids. This, of course, makes it much
harder to make a dent."

This reality has forced NNAF to organize opposition to
the Hyde Amendment - and has moved the organization
beyond the exclusive provision of direct aid. In 2007 -
Hyde's 30th anniversary - the group pulled together a
coalition that continues to labor for an end to the
funding ban. NNAF is also involved at the state level
to protect funding in the 15 states that currently pay
for the procedure.

Still, despite this advocacy, NNAF's primary focus is
the individual funds; staff also fundraise to
supplement money raised by local projects - whether
they are autonomous, are programs of other
organizations or are sponsored by a particular health
center. The Roe Fund, for example, is a project of the
Oklahoma chapter of the Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice. The fund distributes approximately
$1,800 a month. "We have donors who give us $25 and
others who give us $500 once or twice a year," says
fund member Sue Ames. "Once a year, several
congregations take up a collection. We also run a
signature ad in The Tulsa World and Oklahoma Gazette
each January 22nd, the anniversary of the Roe decision.
In 2012, we had 500 signers and we asked each of them
to contribute $39 to commemorate the 39th anniversary
of the ruling."

The Feminist Women's Health Center in Concord, New
Hampshire, operates three in-house funds: One to pay
for the gynecological care of uninsured patients;
another to provide HIV testing; and a third, called The
Joan Fund, to help pay for abortion care. "In 2011, we
assisted 72 clients," says Dalia Vidunas, executive
director of the 38-year-old clinic. "The grants ranged
from $25 to $200. The amount depends on what the client
needs, yet we don't want someone to not go through with
a procedure that is in their best interest because
they're poor. To not have a choice because of money is
horrible." Vidunas says that she routinely does
outreach to other funds in an effort to cobble together
a larger grant - something NNAF encourages.

"We recently had a call from a homeless shelter," she
says. "One of their residents was pregnant and had some
serious mental health issues. She recognized that this
was not the right time for her to have a child. We
worked with her for several weeks. A local church came
up with some money, as did another Abortion Fund. In
the end, we were able to tap a few places, provide the
abortion, and set her up with other resources. She has
since returned to the clinic for post-operative
gynecological care and we expect her to be our patient
for a long, long time."

Vidunas reports that this woman's relief - not only at
being able to terminate her pregnancy but also to
receive ongoing health care in a woman-centered space -
was palpable. Indeed, Vidunas, Griesse, Ames and NNAF
staffers agree that one of the most heartening aspects
of this work is the appreciation expressed by the women
themselves. "I am a college student and am positive I
will one day be able to give back to the Fund. I am so
thankful to you," one grantee wrote to the Roe Fund's
Sue Ames. "You've helped me to better myself in this
very hard time. I am grateful and will never forget,"
wrote another.

But acknowledgement aside, abortion fund activists
understand that private philanthropy, no matter now
generous, can never alleviate poverty or stem unequal
access to health care. What's more, escalating health
insurance deductibles may soon mean that funds will be
asked to meet the needs of a new constituency: Those
who have to pay for their abortions out of pocket
because they have not met the required $1,000 to $2,500
expenditure.

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate