Donations to U.S. abortion rights groups, clinics surge after Supreme Court leak

Might 4 (Reuters) - Donations have flooded into abortion clinics and abortion-rights advocacy teams because the leak of a U.S. Supreme Courtroom draft ruling that confirmed the justices apparently poised to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

The draft ruling, which was printed by Politico on Monday evening, sparked a frenzy of giving by Americans to abortion clinics, groups that help individuals pay for abortions and organizations looking for to preserve abortion access.

Beneficiaries included national organizations with giant operating budgets as well as small, independent clinics and regional teams that are often ignored.

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NARAL Pro-Choice America, a nonprofit that received $12.9 million in donations in fiscal year 2021, saw a 1,403% increase in donations within the 24 hours after the information broke in comparison with the day before, spokesperson Kristin Ford mentioned. Fifty-one percent of donors were giving for the primary time.

Between Monday evening and noon Wednesday, greater than 4,000 donors gave greater than $100,000 to the Abortion Care Network, a nationwide association of 150 unbiased U.S. abortion clinics. That was the biggest wave of donations over that length of time that the affiliation had ever obtained.

The money will go on to the clinics and assist them stay open to offer reproductive health companies even if state laws prohibit them from offering abortions, the community's Government

Director Nikki Madsen said.

"We'll proceed to be combating in the states to carry again abortion entry," Madsen mentioned. "We have to hold these clinics open in that interim."

Advocates both for and against abortion rights say they'll use the Supreme Courtroom's ruling, anticipated by the end of June, to mobilize voters for the 2022 midterm elections. National anti-abortion groups Susan B. Anthony Record and March for Life did not immediately respond to inquiries about donations.

Planned Parenthood and Emily's Record, groups that advocate for reproductive rights, additionally did not instantly respond.

The Roe Fund, an abortion fund in Oklahoma that gives cash to the state's clinics to help sufferers' procedures, had more than 8,000 donors contribute more than $50,000 on Tuesday, the fund's Treasurer Janice Massey mentioned.

On Tuesday night time, Oklahoma enacted a law banning abortions after six weeks of being pregnant, shutting down almost all abortion services in the state. read more

"That is certainly the biggest surge (in donations) I've seen within the 13 years I have been doing this work," Massey said.

The Kentucky Health Justice Network, one other abortion fund, acquired more than 1,000 donations with an average value of $50 since Monday night time, Operations Director Ashley Jacobs stated on Wednesday. When a Kentucky regulation suspended in-state abortion services for eight days in April, the network assisted patients traveling to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors additionally gave to organizations in areas that might see an inflow of patients seeking abortions as a result of local laws shield abortion rights.

The DC Abortion Fund, which funds abortions within the nation's capital as well as in Virginia and Maryland, obtained greater than $105,000 in donations between Monday evening and Wednesday morning, spokesperson Devin Simpson mentioned.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Osterman

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