The National Network of Abortion Funds authored the following statement about Operation Scale Up (OSU) in consultation with Baltimore Abortion Fund, Blue Ridge Abortion Fund, Carolina Abortion Fund, DC Abortion Fund, and Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project.
The Operation Scale Up (OSU) pilot is a program co-designed by the National Network of Abortion Funds and five abortion funds in the DMV and Carolinas region—Baltimore Abortion Fund, Blue Ridge Abortion Fund, Carolina Abortion Fund, DC Abortion Fund, and Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project. For the last two years, in anticipation of the Supreme Court decision that removed the baseline protections of Roe v. Wade, these five community-based abortion funds have been shaping the vision, design, and implementation of a new way of funding abortion. As experts in what it takes to overcome abortion access barriers, abortion funds are the exact right program designers to create a system that is foundationally built for ease, autonomy, and compassion for its users (referenced below as “callers” or “abortion fund callers”).
Our Comprehensive Vision
- Providing full financial support for a caller’s need to access care, from the cost of an abortion to all additional expenses, such as travel, lodging, childcare, translation, and more.
- Strengthening the infrastructure and capacity of local abortion funds by hiring staff, and designing robust and secure technology systems to streamline support and lift unnecessary burdens for callers on the front end, while facilitating collaboration between local funds on the back end.
Unfortunately, after several months of ambiguity, the OSU pilot’s primary funder has decided not to invest in the portion of OSU that would provide programmatic funding for abortion costs and logistical support. We are disappointed to announce that, because of this decision, we cannot launch a pilot of fully funded abortions at this time. NNAF takes full responsibility for the stewardship of this funder relationship. It has also been our role to fundraise for OSU, so we assume accountability for not meeting this goal and the repercussions this has for both the pilot funds and the broader ecosystem.
Make no mistake, the five pilot funds are ready and able to meaningfully change the face of abortion funding. In accordance with their vision, all five abortion funds have succeeded in staffing their organizations, designing a coordinated data system, and building rigorous infrastructure. This setback in no way reflects the abortion funds’ expertise or their readiness to lead.
The Impact
Our disappointment is first and foremost rooted in the impact this has on callers who are:
- Experiencing financial hardships
- Black people, Indigenous people, People of Color
- Those living in places where laws both withhold abortion healthcare and criminalize those who are seeking it out.
The pilot fund region—Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina—includes states that are currently experiencing increases in funding requests. This region is home to some of the most critical clinics providing later abortion care in the country, making it a hub for more people traveling farther, at greater expense, and with greater complexity than ever before. There has never been a worse time to withhold money from abortion funds.
Getting abortion funding help is not easy. It often requires multiple phone calls to multiple organizations and leaves many people without adequate means to travel. The pilot sought to address this problem because local abortion funds currently offer the most comprehensive wrap-around support to callers seeking care. This includes covering the cost of the abortion, as well as paying for, planning for, and case managing the logistics of travel, housing, childcare, and more. None of the five pilot program abortion funds uses inadequate and problematic measures of worthiness like the federal poverty level to determine eligibility. Rooted in the values of autonomy and trust, abortion funds believe people know best what they need and work to get those needs met. Our solutions are liberatory, abundant, and rooted in honoring the lived experiences of people seeking abortions.
NNAF knows from our annual survey of network members that when an abortion fund evolves from a volunteer-run organization—when it grows from no staff to 1 – 2 staff—the number of callers they can support doubles, and the number of callers funded grows exponentially with each additional staff member. Staff at the pilot funds have been critical to meeting the sharp increase in need to this particular region since the fall of Roe. But in addition to staff, abortion funds also need dramatically increased budgets to meet the increased needs of our communities..
When local abortion funds are not resourced with people, time, connectivity, and money, people seeking abortions are left with a complicated, hard-to-navigate system that is, at best, a time-draining hassle. At worst, it is a demeaning experience that perpetuates the same systems of harm that abortion funds are founded to fight. Worst of all, it often leaves them without actual access to care.
A Bold Vision
Building and designing the OSU pilot has been an opportunity to plan for an expansive future for abortion seekers. Together, we are bold—even audacious—to work toward a reality where, even as we witness the evisceration of Roe v. Wade, abortion access could come with more ease for people.
Working together in this pilot has reinforced what we know we are capable of. The local funds hired staff, grew budgets, designed infrastructure and technology, revamped policies and procedures, worked together as a region, and continued to fund abortions and practical support at unprecedented levels.
Currently, most abortion funding is distributed through large, national provider organizations whose primary focus is clinical care. We all have critical parts to play in making the abortion ecosystem navigable and equitable; there is no denying that abortion funds’ rightful role is our expertise in helping abortion seekers break down financial and logistical barriers.
Historically, institutional philanthropy and those with the most resources have not trusted local organizations like abortion funds, People of Color, and people closest to the issue with the level of resourcing needed to implement our solutions. OSU is an invitation to do something different in a moment when we most need innovation: Invest in a community-led solution that is bold enough to meet this moment.
Invest in Abortion Funds
We’re ready.
While the OSU pilot cannot launch as it’s been envisioned, we are heartened to share that the local abortion funds have built the capacity and infrastructure to distribute millions of dollars to abortion seekers—we just need the resourcing to do it.
Because we believe in the power, brilliance, and capability of these pilot funds, without reservation and without hesitation, we invite organizations, funders, and individuals to show their strong support for these five pilot funds, as well as all the other grassroots abortion funds holding together the crumbling abortion landscape. We invite all grassroots donors to donate to your local abortion fund. We invite foundations and those with access to wealth to connect directly with the OSU pilot funds.
We need all hands on deck to build the infrastructure abortion seekers should be able to count on. The abortion funding movement is equipped to resource abortions and build power at the local levels. For everyone looking for a way forward, the path is crystal clear: it’s beyond time to return resources to our communities by deeply investing in our local organizations. We are co-creating systems and institutions that actually serve us, and this is your chance to be part of the solution. People need abortions to be available and accessible. People seeking abortions need our trust, money, commitment, and courage—now and in the years to come.