As a growing number of states restrict abortion, other states and some local municipalities are substantially increasing funding for abortion and other reproductive health services.
At least 15 municipal and six state governments allocated nearly $208 million to pay for contraception, abortion and support services for people seeking abortions in the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, according to data provided to NPR by the National Institute for Reproductive Health.
That’s far more than the roughly $55 million spent on similar services in the three years before the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision last June allowed abortion restrictions to take effect around the country.
“We’ve seen unrivaled action across states and localities at the municipal level to bolster access to reproductive health care, and especially around abortion, as a really immediate and direct response,” NIRH President Andrea Miller said in an interview with NPR.
Money has been set aside for a variety of purposes, Miller said, including allocations for abortion funds and support networks that provide financial assistance to people struggling to pay for procedures, travel and other associated costs. California, for example, set aside $20 million to help out-of-state patients travel there for abortions; Chicago’s public health department allocated $500,000 to be split between Planned Parenthood of Illinois and the Chicago Abortion Fund.
Miller said she hopes to see those kinds of organizations become less dependent on private donations.
“We’re hearing from abortion funds and practical support networks that the requests they’re getting are astronomical, and they are so far beyond what they’ve ever been before,” she said.
During a…
Read the full article here
