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

May 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 resolution.

The draft ruling, which was published by Politico on Monday evening, sparked a frenzy of giving by Individuals to abortion clinics, groups that assist individuals pay for abortions and organizations in search of to protect abortion entry.

Beneficiaries included national organizations with giant working budgets in addition to small, independent clinics and regional teams which might be often missed.

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NARAL Pro-Choice America, a nonprofit that obtained $12.9 million in donations in fiscal yr 2021, noticed a 1,403% increase in donations in the 24 hours after the news broke compared to the day earlier than, spokesperson Kristin Ford mentioned. Fifty-one p.c of donors have been giving for the first time.

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

The cash will go on to the clinics and assist them keep open to provide reproductive well being providers even if state legal guidelines prohibit them from offering abortions, the network's Govt

Director Nikki Madsen said.

"We will continue to be combating within the states to convey again abortion access," Madsen said. "We have to hold these clinics open in that interim."

Advocates both for and in opposition to abortion rights say they may use the Supreme Court's ruling, anticipated by the end of June, to mobilize voters for the 2022 midterm elections. National anti-abortion teams Susan B. Anthony Record and March for Life didn't immediately reply to inquiries about donations.

Planned Parenthood and Emily's Record, teams that advocate for reproductive rights, also didn't instantly respond.

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

On Tuesday night, Oklahoma enacted a law banning abortions after six weeks of being pregnant, shutting down nearly all abortion companies in the state. learn extra

"This is definitely the most important surge (in donations) I've seen in the 13 years I have been doing this work," Massey said.

The Kentucky Well being Justice Community, another abortion fund, received greater than 1,000 donations with a median value of $50 since Monday night, Operations Director Ashley Jacobs said on Wednesday. When a Kentucky legislation suspended in-state abortion companies for eight days in April, the network assisted patients traveling to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors also gave to organizations in areas that would see an influx of sufferers looking for abortions because native laws protect abortion rights.

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

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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.