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

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

The draft ruling, which was revealed by Politico on Monday evening, sparked a frenzy of giving by People to abortion clinics, teams that assist individuals pay for abortions and organizations seeking to protect abortion access.

Beneficiaries included nationwide organizations with giant working budgets as well as small, independent clinics and regional teams which are typically ignored.

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NARAL Pro-Selection America, a nonprofit that obtained $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 earlier than, spokesperson Kristin Ford mentioned. Fifty-one % of donors have been giving for the primary time.

Between Monday night and midday Wednesday, more than 4,000 donors gave more than $100,000 to the Abortion Care Network, a national association of 150 impartial 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 assist them keep open to offer reproductive well being providers even if state legal guidelines prohibit them from providing abortions, the network's Executive

Director Nikki Madsen mentioned.

"We will continue to be fighting in the states to deliver back abortion access," Madsen said. "We need to keep these clinics open in that interim."

Advocates both for and against abortion rights say they are going to use the Supreme Court's ruling, anticipated by the tip of June, to mobilize voters for the 2022 midterm elections. Nationwide anti-abortion groups Susan B. Anthony Record and March for Life did not instantly reply to inquiries about donations.

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

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

On Tuesday night time, Oklahoma enacted a legislation banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, shutting down almost all abortion services within the state. read more

"This is actually the largest surge (in donations) I've seen within the 13 years I have been doing this work," Massey mentioned.

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

Donors also gave to organizations in areas that would see an influx of sufferers looking for abortions as a result of 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, received more than $105,000 in donations between Monday night and Wednesday morning, spokesperson Devin Simpson stated.

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

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