With Florida and Arizona bans looming, money's getting tight for abortion travel funders

With Florida set to enforce a six-week abortion ban as early as May 1 and a near-total prohibition taking effect soon after in Arizona, staffers at abortion funds say they won’t be able to meet the increased demand for help funding out-of-state travel — a development that could lead to more people continuing unintended pregnancies.

“I don’t think people quite understand the ramifications,” said Stephanie Loraine Pineiro, the executive director of Florida Access Network, one of the Sunshine State’s abortion funds. These nonprofit organizations help pregnant people cover the cost of terminating a pregnancy. “We’re thinking about the collateral damage. People’s lives are going to be affected.”

One state ban alone would have strained the nation’s fragile abortion fund network. But together, the two laws may be too much to bear. After spiking in June 2022, a temporary result of the Supreme Court’s unpopular decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and end the federal right to an abortion, donations to these funds have steadily declined.

In Florida, representatives for the state’s abortion funds said they were already at their limits. Now, they fear the six-week ban will stretch them further. Last year, more than 80,000 abortions were performed in the state, according to the state health department.


https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/florida-and-arizona-bans-looming-moneys-getting-tight-abortion%C2%A0travel-funders