Dear Friends of NYAAF:

We are asking for your help.

The New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF) granted more than $60,000 to health clinics over the past year, helping 122 women pay for abortions they could not otherwise afford. This is more than twice the number we were able to support the year before.

Demand for our services continues to rise as the bleak economy takes a toll on low-income women and their families. Now more than ever, we need your support to fill the gap for women who would otherwise fall through the cracks—those too broke to pay for necessary healthcare, but who make just enough that they do not qualify for public assistance.

Earlier this year, NYAAF received a call from a young woman named Allison. Allison lives in the Western United States and is uninsured. Because of a preexisting medical condition, she needed to receive her abortion in a clinical setting under general anesthesia. The cost in New York was much lower than anything she could find near her home. So she planned to drive across the country with her elderly stepfather, a bag of white bread and a tub of peanut butter. After several phone calls, we found a clinic closer to her home and negotiated a price that she could afford.

Another call came from Doug, a young man in his early twenties trying to find help for his girlfriend. Calls from men are rare, but this young man clearly saw the situation as one that affected him as much as his partner. We helped him locate a clinic and together they were able to raise $800 from friends and family. NYAAF kicked in the final $400.

The women NYAAF supports are as diverse as our country. They are African American, Latina and white and, this past year, ranged from 11 to 43 years of age. Forty percent already had children. They are united by the fact that, while they live in a country where abortion is legal and safe, cost nearly prevented them from accessing services.

NYAAF works to break down this barrier by helping women pay for abortions and matching them to convenient and affordable services. We thank you for your past support and invite you to ensure that abortion remains safe, legal, accessible and funded. One-hundred percent of your tax-deductible donation directly supports low-income women’s abortions.

You can donate via Causes on Facebook or by clicking the “donate now” button on www.nyaaf.org. Again, your help is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

NYAAF Board of Directors

Dear supporters,

This week the New York Abortion Access Fund dipped below $1000, less than our average weekly grant total. To replenish the fund and keep our services operating, we are calling an emergency fundraiser for next Thursday, September 16th. Please join us from 6-9pm at Destination Bar for an evening of discounted cocktails, a raffle and silent auction in support of the New York Abortion Access Fund. Please spread the word!

Suggested donation: $20 (or more if you can afford it).

Drink specials! Raffle! Silent Auction!

Abortion should be safe, legal and FUNDED! Pass it on!

Can’t come but support the cause? Donate anyway! Just click on the button on the right. We need your support!

Dear friends,

Our fund is going broke and we need your help to replenish it. This April, the New York Abortion Access Fund raised over $20,000 during the first-ever National Abortion Access Bowlathon. We have already given out ALL of that money to help women pay for abortions they needed but could not afford. To contribute, please click on the Network for Good link on the right.

NYAAF is pledging money at a faster rate than ever before. Why? Two reasons:

First, over the past year our visibility as a fund has increased thanks to your help in promoting our services, word-of-mouth referrals from women we have helped, an increase in the number of partner clinics who call us when they have a patient in need, and a ramped up online presence via Facebook, Twitter and our website.

Second, a recent wave of extremely expensive cases has nearly wiped us out. More and more women are contacting us for help in paying for extremely costly later-term procedures. These women come to us with heartbreaking stories of the obstacles they have faced in both preventing an unplanned pregnancy in the first place and then obtaining an abortion right away.

Why are these women waiting so long to get abortions? At NYAAF, we are often asked this question. The women we help give a range of answers. Some do not realize they are pregnant right away. Some young women say they were afraid to tell their parents or didn’t know where to go for help.

But the most common reason we hear is MONEY. The women we serve often come to us from other states with more restrictive abortion policies. By the time they reach New York, they have already spent considerable time and energy fundraising for their trip and procedure by saving up, borrowing from friends and family and asking for advances on paychecks. In the meantime, the longer a women spends raising the funds to pay for her procedure, the more expensive that procedure becomes.

Please help us help women obtain earlier, less expensive abortions. When our fund is flush, NYAAF is able to pledge 100% of the money a woman needs to confirm an appointment so that she can stop fundraising and obtain an abortion right away. When we are broke, as we are now, we are forced to make smaller pledges. We try to make up the balance by referring women to all known sources of funding, helping them to negotiate payment plans with clinics and look into paying for the procedure with a credit card. This kind of negotiating is not only costly for the woman, but also time consuming for our all-volunteer board thus limiting the number of women we can help.

By donating today, you can help break down the barriers preventing women from obtaining timely, cost-effective abortions and, in turn, help us to be able to serve a greater number of women. All contributions are tax deductible and 100% of your donation will go DIRECTLY toward paying for a women’s abortion. We are a tiny, tightly budgeted 501c3. All operating costs are covered out of pocket by the NYAAF board.

At current rates, we will run out of money by the end of the month. Please help us stay afloat.

Sincerely,

The board of the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF)

Nyaaf.org
Causes.org/nyaaf
Twitter.com/nyaaf