Category Archives: Why I Donate

“What we might lose in slogans, we make up for with integrity.”

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We recommend reading Rye Young’s (NYAAF Board Member and Executive Director of Third Wave Fund!) thoughtful response to Katha Politt’s article criticizing the use of gender inclusive language in abortion funding activism.

We take pride in doing everything we can to ensure abortion is accessible, including for groups who are systemically excluded from accessing safe and necessary healthcare.

Gender inclusivity has not diminished our belief that women’s leadership and voice (which includes transgender women) is critical in the struggle for reproductive health care access. We have simply created a wider tent that recognizes all those affected by the issue.

Thanks for supporting gender-inclusivity in reproductive healthcare and for engaging in necessary critical conversations with us!

Sincerely,
NYAAF Communications Team

7 Reasons to Give to NYAAF

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A guest post by Chanel Dubofsky. 

1. In 2008, 39% of New York counties had no abortion provider. This means more people needing abortions must travel further to have the procedure done, and makes the work of NYAAF even more urgent and crucial.

2. New York State is a haven for people who need abortions. The state does not have any of the major types of abortion restrictions—such as waiting periods, mandated parental involvement or limitations on publicly funded abortions—often found in other states.

3. More donations = more abortions funded! The amount of funds NYAAF has pledged as well as the number of grantees served continues to grow with each passing fiscal year.

4. The average cost of procedure NYAAF sponsored was $906, and the most common was $500. The average grant size was $303. Could you afford that out of pocket?

5. In NYAAF’s  first ever email “Emergency Appeal,” 41 people donated $1,719 towards care for Sophia, a New York state resident undergoing chemotherapy, whose pregnancy and fetal anomalies were discovered at an advanced stage after doctors told her she could not get pregnant. The abortion itself cost over $12,000 (before travel costs and accommodations). Despite Sophia’s personal contribution and significant assistance from the National Abortion Federation, there remained a $1,750 balance. This pledge size was ten times NYAAF’s average grant amount.

6. When you give to NYAAF, you’re supporting a truly collaborative funding process. Resources are coordinated among  grantees, clinics, and partner abortion funds. More than three-quarters of grantees contributed money toward their abortion. One grantee contributed $4,900, while another was able to contribute just $30. The average grantee contribution was $355 and the most common grantee contribution was $200.

7. Abortion is a common experience: At current rates, about one in three American women will have had an abortion by the time she reaches age 45.

Why I Donate to NYAAF

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A guest post by NYAAF volunteer Jill Haber.

How often does the average person think about abortion? I work in an abortion clinic, and for me, it is all day, everyday. I find it fascinating how many different perspectives from which the abortion discussion can be framed. Abortion intersects public life in areas as disparate as politics, public health, medicine, religion, economics, culture, and philosophy. These intersections are almost never mutually exclusive either. Regardless of how it’s framed, abortion ignites passion in activists on all sides of the issue.

It is difficult to view it in so many different lights when you are working with individuals. My job is to help people seeking abortion. Much like anyone else, I tend to get wrapped up in the politics of what I do, but while working with someone going through something so deeply personal, politics couldn’t be further from my mind. At that moment, what is important is that we do everything to make a potentially complicated situation easier for this person. That’s how NYAAF helps. They focus every dollar on the individuals: the people I work with. The people who make up the statistics that end up in a research paper or in a debate.

The reasons for abortion are endless—wanting to finish school, supporting a family you already have, homelessness, rape, or perhaps that it’s not the right time to bring a child into the world. The truth of the matter is that abortion is not part of anyone’s grand plan. What a politician feels about a person’s reason for abortion seems like the most inconsequential opinion in the world at the moment when I am sitting with a person seeking an abortion.

When you donate to NYAAF, you’re giving money in order to enable a person to have an abortion without needing to forgo their rent. Even in a state like New York known for abortion access, there is still a huge need for financial assistance. When you do not have insurance or not qualify for Medicaid, you’re expected to come up with a large sum of money, often hundreds or thousands of dollars, which is a hardship for many families. NYAAF helps people seeking abortion services in New York and traveling to New York. Since New York has fewer legal barriers than many other states, that adds up to helping a lot of folks from out of state—in fact, about 25% of the people they funded last year traveled to New York for an abortion. When you donate to NYAAF, you’re making a huge difference to someone. You’re helping them move forward in a situation where they otherwise would have been stuck.

I support NYAAF because its volunteers and donors make a difference for the individuals seeking abortion care. The story behind every abortion is as unique as the person asking NYAAF for help. It is the people who are behind the statistics that matter, and that is why I donate.