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

Could 4 (Reuters) - Donations have flooded into abortion clinics and abortion-rights advocacy groups since the leak of a U.S. Supreme Court 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 People to abortion clinics, teams that assist people pay for abortions and organizations seeking to protect abortion access.

Beneficiaries included nationwide organizations with massive operating budgets in addition to small, unbiased clinics and regional teams which can be often overlooked.

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

Between Monday evening and midday Wednesday, greater than 4,000 donors gave more than $100,000 to the Abortion Care Community, a national affiliation of 150 unbiased U.S. abortion clinics. That was the most important wave of donations over that length of time that the association had ever acquired.

The cash will go on to the clinics and assist them stay open to offer reproductive health services even when state legal guidelines prohibit them from providing abortions, the community's Govt

Director Nikki Madsen stated.

"We're going to continue to be fighting in the states to deliver back abortion entry," Madsen mentioned. "We need to maintain these clinics open in that interim."

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

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

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

On Tuesday evening, Oklahoma enacted a law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, shutting down virtually all abortion providers within the state. learn more

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

The Kentucky Health Justice Community, one other abortion fund, obtained greater than 1,000 donations with a median worth of $50 since Monday night, Operations Director Ashley Jacobs said on Wednesday. When a Kentucky legislation suspended in-state abortion providers for eight days in April, the community assisted patients traveling to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors also gave to organizations in areas that might see an inflow of patients seeking abortions as a result of local legal guidelines protect 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 night and Wednesday morning, spokesperson Devin Simpson stated.

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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.