It's a bad day. Here's how to help.
the true crime that's worth your time
I know that we promised you a podcast recommendation list today. But that’s not what we’re sending. It feels tonally off, on a day where so many people lost a fundamental and crucial right, to act like everything is fine. (As I said to Sarah on Slack this morning, I was actively angry at Travel and Leisure for sending an email subject lined “Everything You Need to Know About Amazon Prime Day 2022” unless the body of it is “safe and free abortions will be available to all comers, regardless of Prime status.”)
Instead, we’re pulling together a list of resources on how to help ensure that all women, especially our most vulnerable residents, retain access to every aspect of medical care. We’ll add to this list even after we send, as we learn of more options, so please do bookmark this issue (or whatever one does to remember websites these days) and refer back to it. In addition, if you have groups you’d like us to add, please link them in the comments or notify us via email — you can just hit “reply” on this issue.
Finally, we want to urge all of you to take care of yourselves. This feels like an impossible setback to bear on top of everything else we’ve been grappling with for the last few years. It’s so tempting to immerse ourselves in rage and grief. But there’s no virtue — or even productivity! — in self-flagellation. The best fighters know when to give themselves a break, to tune out, and to recover. If you can, we urge you to resist the urge to scroll through Twitter and spiral, or just punch a wall. Please make time for something you love and enjoy these next few days, get some rest, and then get back out there. We can fix this. — EB and SDB
Places to donate
Keep Our Clinics
501 (c) (3) nonprofit fundraising campaign from the Abortion Care Network specifically dedicated to support for independent providers. Funds go toward “making necessary security improvements, replacing and updating medical equipment, covering legal costs to maintain compliance with politically-motivated regulations, clinic building maintenance and repair.”
Donations: one time or monthly
National Network of Abortion Funds
This donation page on Actblue Charities (this is a platform that allows non-profits to swiftly mount fundraising campaigns, and shouldn’t be confused with the Democratic Party fundraising effort with a similar name) allows donors to give to over 80 different abortion funds; you can choose how your donation is split or just go with their default.
Donations: one time or monthly, and you don’t even need to pull out a credit card as it accepts Venmo or PayPal, too.
National Abortion Federation
The NAF is the professional association for abortion providers; it’s fundraising arm is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, though, so you can still write it off. (And, though I didn’t mention if before, please do write these donations off! It is a nice middle finger to do so, don’t you think?)
Donations: It has two funds you can support: its provider fund gives you options to “use where it’s most needed” or to support abortion provider security. Its patient fund “goes directly to patients who need help traveling or affording travel-related expenses in order to obtain their abortion care.,” or you can dedicate your donation to support “the largest national, toll-free, multi-lingual Hotline for abortion referrals and financial assistance in the U.S.”
Planned Parenthood
The OG, baby. Donations “will be shared between your local Planned Parenthood affiliate and Planned Parenthood Federation of America,” and here’s a bonus” “All gifts made by June 30 will be matched, $1‑for‑$1, up to a total of $250,000.” There’s a pop-up on their main site that one can donate with in a flash.
Support people who need medical advice and abortions
Especially today, there’s a lot of confusing and false information on where one can get an abortion. Just searching this morning, I saw multiple anti-abortion groups that manage so-called “crisis pregnancy clinics” (that is, places that try to scare women into continuing a pregnancy that endangers their health, safety or future) capitalizing on the issue.
These are vetted resources that we’ve fact-checked for legitimacy, so if you’re going to pass on places folks can find surgical or medical termination services, we suggest you start with this list:
The M+A (Miscarriage + Abortion) Hotline
This is a hotline run by volunteering clinicians dedicated to answering questions about medical abortions (aka “abortion pills”). They don’t sell or dispense those pills, but can answer questions on the process. All calls are confidential, private, and secure.
Contact: call or text 1-833-246-2632, they will respond within one hour from 8 AM to 11 PM in any time zone.
Abortion Clinics Online
This is a national directory of abortion providers in all states in which abortion remains legal. They also have a separate list of telehealth providers for medical abortions; for states in which this is legal pills can be ordered online or called into a local pharmacy.
Plan C
This is a comprehensive resource site for people seeking medical abortions, from phone support to legal resources to options for pregnancies that require surgical termination. It’s staffed and managed by public health advocates.
INeedanA.com
This site is a grassroots effort “by a designer and engineer during Wendy Davis’ Filibuster in 2013, one year after their own abortion in Texas,” with a goal to “provide a simple, up-to-date, and localized source of information for people seeking abortions.” It does that by requesting “3 non-personally-identifiable pieces of information (that we don’t collect or store)”; and via algorithm and plain old shoe leather, delivers information on services in a patient’s area.
Legal support for abortion seekers
Repro Legal Helpline
Run by volunteers from Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, their help line answers questions about abortion access; LRJ also defends people who face legal threats for terminating a pregnancy.
Contact: call 844-868-2812 or submit a secure online form, an attorney will respond.
Some good apps
Euki
”An app for anyone who wants accurate, complete, and unbiased information about sexual and reproductive health.” It’s available in the Apple app store and Google Play store.
Safe Abortion App
This multilingual app (English, French, Spanish, Igbo, Kinyarwanda, Luganda, Yoruba, Amharic, Afaan Oromo and Swahili) helps break down different abortion methods and offers a pregnancy calculator to determine which methods are best for a termination. It’s available via Google or Apple
Mental health resources
Folks who are seeing abortions need mental health support now more than ever; many other members of our community are experiencing trauma from past experiences or, obviously, the current threats to our rights. These options can help. Use them.
All-Options Talkline
For folks who need to talk about a past or current experience with abortion, adoption, parenting, infertility or pregnancy loss.
Contact: call 1-888-493-0092, 24 hours a day from the U.S. or Canada to reach a peer counselor.
Exhale Pro-Voice
This volunteer-run helpline is for people who need advice on how to support family members and friends who are seeking or have had abortions; its also for post-abortion care for patients.
Contact: Text 617-749-2948 from the U.S. or Canada, hours are 3-9 PM PT weekdays, 1-9 PM Saturdays, 3-7 PM Sundays.
What is this thing? This should help. Follow Best Evidence @bestevidencefyi on Twitter and Instagram. You can also call or text us any time at 919-75-CRIME.