Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund

The Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund was founded in 2013 by two women Laurie Bertram Roberts and Yolanda Walker. We formed the fund because as clinic escorts we saw first hand patients who were struggling to find the last $50, $75 or $100 for their procedures. Patients who had to have a friend or loved one sit in the car with their child or children after they drove 3 or 4 hours because they had no money for child care. Patients who didn't eat all day because they spent their last $30 on gas and now couldn't afford anything to eat. Patients willing having to sleep in their car overnight so they could get their procedures the next day due to our state's unnecessary 24 hour waiting period. The impact of the Hyde Amendment is strongly felt here. Many patients who are covered by medicaid or would be if Mississippi had expanded medicaid do not have abortion coverage due to this government policy. So we deeply understood that due to many patients having to wait for their first appointment until they could save up enough money to come, some get turned away because once they finally make it to Jackson they are past the 16 week cut off at the last clinic in Mississippi. They are then faced with the option to carry to term or go out of state for their procedure. We chose to fund Plan B because the founding of our fund occurred right around the time Plan B became available to all ages over the counter. Despite birth control being covered under the ACA and emergency contraception technically being available to all who wants to get it. Access is still limited in some areas of Mississippi and many face financial barriers. Thanks to Mississippi's lack of quality sexual and family planning education many do not even know what emergency contraception is. There is also population of Mississippi Choctaw Indians who do not have equal access to Plan B either due to the Indian Health Services unequal policies. We want to help make sure that the people of Mississippi have the same access to family planning options as people in other states.