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 showed the justices apparently poised to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade determination.

The draft ruling, which was printed by Politico on Monday night, sparked a frenzy of giving by Americans to abortion clinics, teams that assist individuals pay for abortions and organizations in search of to protect abortion entry.

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

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NARAL Pro-Choice America, a nonprofit that acquired $12.9 million in donations in fiscal 12 months 2021, saw a 1,403% improve in donations within the 24 hours after the news broke compared to the day before, spokesperson Kristin Ford said. Fifty-one % of donors have been giving for the primary time.

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

The money will go directly to the clinics and help them keep open to provide reproductive well being services even when state laws prohibit them from providing abortions, the network's Executive

Director Nikki Madsen said.

"We're going to proceed to be preventing within the states to bring back abortion entry," Madsen stated. "We have to hold these clinics open in that interim."

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

Planned Parenthood and Emily's List, groups that advocate for reproductive rights, additionally didn't instantly respond.

The Roe Fund, an abortion fund in Oklahoma that provides cash to the state's clinics to assist patients' procedures, had more than 8,000 donors contribute greater 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 services within the state. learn extra

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

The Kentucky Health Justice Network, another abortion fund, obtained greater than 1,000 donations with an average worth of $50 since Monday evening, Operations Director Ashley Jacobs mentioned on Wednesday. When a Kentucky legislation suspended in-state abortion services for eight days in April, the community assisted patients traveling to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors also gave to organizations in areas that could see an influx of patients seeking abortions because local legal guidelines protect abortion rights.

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

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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.