by Diana W.
Did you know: in the state of Minnesota, there are 98 fake reproductive clinics (also known as crisis pregnancy centers) but only eight real abortion providers, most of which are in the Twin Cities area?[1]
Did you know: abortion funds provide not only financial assistance for abortions to those who need it, but also financial and logistical assistance to those who need to travel for the procedure?
Did you know: Twin Cities DSA’s Socialist Feminist branch raised nearly $8000 for Minnesota abortion fund Our Justice this spring??
Every year, the National Network of Abortion Funds has a fundraising drive – the National Abortion Access Fund-a-Thon – during which teams of community members across the country raise money for its member funds, including Our Justice. For the last few years, Twin Cities DSA has been one of the sponsoring organizations of Our Justice’s fund-a-thon, and this year, we officially had a team: Ella (as in the morning after pill) Baker, named for Ella, an emergency contraceptive that is an alternative to Plan B[2], and civil rights activist Ella Baker. Through a combination of an online auction for comrade Kim’s handmade ceramic mugs decorated with abortifacient plants[3], a Twitter thread in which I photoshopped comrade Ian’s iconic big blue winter coat larger for every $250 our team raised[4], and pestering our loved ones, we raised $7756. That’s 31 coat pics! The team donation page is still accepting funds, so don’t hesitate to get that coat even bigger – as of this writing we’re sitting at $7,954.
Our Justice’s goal as an organization was $80,000, which it raised to $90,000 on April 28, the day it held a party to celebrate the end of the fund-a-thon. The draft Supreme Court opinion striking down Roe v. Wade was leaked four days later, and since then the fund-a-thon page has raised a total of $102,700. As impressive as this is, and as wonderful a show of solidarity and community, the average request Our Justice receives for abortion assistance is $300, and without Roe in place, Minnesota is set to become a Midwestern oasis for abortion rights – meaning that assistance with travel will be more in demand than ever among people seeking abortions. Keeping abortion funds healthy will be more important than ever!
You can donate directly to Our Justice at https://www.ourjustice.net/donate, or to our fund-a-thon team at https://fund.nnaf.org/team/417291.