Tax time

Sorry, I know you've seen this one before. It's just so apt. 

Did you file your taxes on time? I did, but just barely, because unlike the last couple of years, life was just way too crazy in January, February, and March to even think about anything beyond the coming week.

So I was doing the April-Fifteenth hustle and feeling anxious to hear how much I'd be getting back, because my bank balance has been dropping steadily over the weeks, much to this over-scheduled, under-employed wage-worker/student's dismay. And I thought of my funding clients -- the women who were struggling to make one paycheck stretch to the next, couldn't quite scrape together the full cost of their abortion care, and turned to local or national funds in hopes of pleading for the difference.

A couple springs ago, I was fully immersed in funding cases and found myself really impressed at all my clients who were so on top of their shit that they had already filed their tax returns. At some point it dawned on me that they HAD to be on top of their shit -- and they HAD to get an H&R Block "refund anticipation loan" or something similar, and give the preparers a cut of the return -- so that they could count on their tax return to help pay for their abortion services.

To so many of my clients, the idea of having savings for health emergencies is a nice dream. As shitty as it is to be faced with an unwanted pregnancy at any time, the spring clients could at least say, "Thank God this didn't happen in December," when obligations like traveling home and finding your kids a gift and keeping the gas account open would have made it even harder to raise the needed money for themselves. At least, since it was happening in February, they could get to work on a refund advance right away. Even if the tax people do turn it into a 15%-interest loan.

I can't tell you how sick I got of hearing, during this health-insurance reform circus, the petty selfishness of "Why should my tax dollars pay for abortions?" Even as people say that shit, thousands and millions of women out there are diligently filing their taxes each spring, hoping their measly take-home was measly enough to warrant a refund check to serve as non-existent health savings account, because "we" can't be bothered to provide a basic, extremely-common health service with "OUR MONEY."

This is all a very long, roundabout way of saying: Please fucking donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds Bowl-a-Thon. Even if it's just twenty, ten, or five dollars. Then email it to at least three people who might care. Can you do that? Please? It's the least we can do, living in this country full of very pious people who'd rather save their dollars to be dipped in the blood-bath of foreign wars and police abuse than see one cent of public "support" for the fact that women may choose not to be pregnant.

Admitting My Bias

Recently, Revolutionary Vagina wrote this post asking what our bias(es) is/are. I really get annoyed with pro-choice people who get all judgmental on women; but I'm going to admit that I get all judgmental and frustated when clients are/seem: ungrateful.

I especially get frustrated about this when it comes to helping patients come up with funding for abortions, finally obtain it, but then they seem really snotty and ungrateful about it all, demanding more money. In my experience, it's the women who needed the least amount of funds from outside sources that get the most uppity about it (for example, the 25 year old woman who could've come up with all of the funds in a pinch, had financial and emotional support from a relative and a friend on the day of her abortion, but was pissed off she didn't "get more" money from the fund. Her inability to get more money from the fund meant she'd have to pay back her friend and her relative. And she didn't want to do that. So she was mad and called the fund employees and clinic staff lots of fun little names that I won't repeat here).

Why does this piss me off? Because it seems like ingratitude to me. Funds don't have to exist. They exist to help women. They work hard to raise money to have an abortion fund. Most fund workers are volunteers and out of the kindness of their hearts, are giving back to women seeking abortions. Women don't have to utilize the funds and the funds don't have to help them pay for their abortions, either. There are women out there doing crazy ass shit to pay for their procedures. Women who don't have a home, don't have a job, no food, their partner just got shot, and are living in circumstances very much like women live in developing countries; only they live in the US. Some of the crazy things I've heard women have to do to pay for their abortions:

- have sex for money
- sell their food stamps
- sell their children's clothes
- sell their cars
- have a yard sale
- sell drugs
- (I'm sure you could all add to this list)

Women shouldn't have to do this. I believe their abortions should be free - probably like most patients - and I get why women get frustrated that Medicaid in their state won't pay for their procedures. It pisses me off, too. It's unfair. Yet when I'm talking to a woman who is one of the lucky ones who can come up with the balance not raised by funds (without having to put herself in any risky/dangerous situation), and it's been explained to her that the $100 she has to pay the clinic will allow at least one other woman to have her abortion, yet she still doesn't care and still throws a tantrum, then I get pissed.

Thankfully, nearly all the women I've ever had the honor (and I mean that) of working with to help them with their abortion procedures, have been gracious, kind, very grateful, and warm. Rarely, a bad seed comes our way. I shouldn't even focus on it, but: it's my bias, the thing that gets me frustrated at times.

Empire State of Mind.

Spring has sprung. The time has come to support your local abortion fund! Abortion funds are local, grassroots organizations that raise money to support women in need of abortion services.

In honor of my current home, I am highlighting the fabulous New York Abortion Access Fund!!

"NYAAF is a volunteer-run, 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to low-income women in New York State who cannot afford to pay for an abortion." They are an affiliate of the National Network of Abortion Funds and believe that abortion services should be available to all women, regardless of their ability to pay.

Why New York (you may ask)?

Yes, New York is what abortioneers call a 'Medicaid state' -- in other words, low-income women who are eligible for Medicaid (public health insurance) and can provide documentation can have their abortion paid for, up to 24 weeks (in some cases). Yes, abortion access in New York is better than in most other states (there are no parental consent/notification laws or state-mandated waiting periods). In New York, no metropolitan area lacks an abortion provider.

Even so, many women struggle to come up with the funds for basic reproductive health care. Whether it's because they are undocumented and cannot get on Medicaid, fall in the "donut hole" where they aren't eligible for Medicaid but can't afford private insurance, or a slew of other reasons, the need for abortion funds is substantial because many women fall through the cracks.

NYAAF supports not only women who are from NY, but also women who have to travel there from states where they cannot have the termination because they are too far along, or if it is less expensive in NY than in their own state. NYAAF has made grants to women from New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and even Texas! From 2008-2009, "NYAAF provided over $43,000 in assistance to support 77 women."

What can YOU do to help?

1) Make a donation directly, http://www.nyaaf.org/how-you-can-help/

2) Volunteer to help with fundraising, technical assistance for the website, stuffing envelopes and other tasks.

3) Host an event to raise money.

4) Join their Board.

Thank you, NYAAF and all the other wonderful, dedicated abortion funds across the country that help women access their reproductive rights everyday. Without you, many women would not have the means to exercise their right to healthcare.

Who Knew Funding Abortions Was So Easy?

Last Thursday, an article was published on Slate, “Fetal Extraction: Could a private abortion fund save health care reform?” I found a number of things in this article repugnant, and was so angry I couldn’t even put it into words. Now I would like to.

This first thing that pisses me off was this comment, “Abortions, at an average of $413 a pop, are cheap.” First, if you’re lucky enough to find out you have an unwanted pregnancy under 12 weeks, you may be able to get it for around $400. However, they typically increase in price about $100-$150 each week after that (maybe more, maybe less – it really depends on your clinic). Second, that’s cheap? If you are like many women seeking an abortion, you may have recently lost your job, be on food stamps, have kids, living paycheck to paycheck. If you have a couple of weeks to get $400-$500 together (if you’re under about 12 weeks), that’s not cheap. Then there are those women and girls who find out later in their pregnancy, and the price is anywhere form $500-$2000+. If you’re comparing it to a complicated medical procedure that required hospitalization (like she does in this article), then yes, it will cost a lot less. I would still never say it’s “cheap”. If it were so cheap, we wouldn’t need abortion funds.

Then the author says this, “It wouldn't be much of a stretch for a nonprofit organization with deep-pocketed donors to cover the cost of abortions for America's low-income women.” Excuse me? Now, I don’t know much about what it takes to operate an abortion fund, but I think anyone who does anything in the abortion world knows what a ridiculous statement this is. There’s a reason why there are small abortion funds throughout the country, strapped for cash, doing their best to help women get abortions about $50 at a time. If you doubt this please, go visit the website for the National Network of Abortion Funds.

In this article she estimates the amount of money needed to fund abortions for low income women (in her words “those at or below 200 percent of the poverty line”). She estimates (remember she thinks all abortions cost around $413) a private abortion fund would need “just $311 million per year”. Just? JUST? I’m sorry, but that seems like a lot of money to me. “Could private funders cover that cost? Absolutely.” Really, is that true NNAF? If that’s true, where are all of these private donors with their millions of dollars? The women I talk to would love to speak to them. Seriously. She goes on to say that over $1 billion is donated to reproductive health charities. What she fails to look into is where that money goes. There’s a big difference between funding an organization that advocates for reproductive health, and one that actually funds abortions. There’s a reason why rich people/rich orgs or companies have the money they do. Funding abortions, openly or privately for that matter, would seriously hurt them. Think of the massive boycotts and how much money they could potentially lose. Rich people/orgs/companies, did not get so much money being stupid.

She also says that “supporters of health care reform” would be willing to help fund abortions. Does she have facts to back this up? Once again, WHERE ARE THESE PEOPLE? GIVE ME THEIR PHONE NUMBERS!!!!

“Better yet, progressives could reduce the abortion fund's costs through family planning.” She says these “progressives” (I think it’s pretty clear by now that she wouldn’t identify herself in this group) believe that contraception is the best way to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Sure. There are hormone supplements, if you’re into that kind of thing. Condoms, if you’re into that kind of thing. There are some options, if you can afford it. However, the problem is that “conservatives” tend to frown upon contraceptives and the public funding of them. Extra- and pre-marital sex is frowned upon by these conservatives, so they really tend to be opposed to funding anything other than abstinence. And I think we all know how effective that is.

“If the family-planning and sex-education programs these pro-choicers support through legislation don't work, the money for the resulting abortions will come out of their own pockets.” Excuse me? Can we properly fund comprehensive sex education and abolish abstinence-only? Also, can we PLEASE STOP DEMONIZING ABORTION? There are women who have a hard time with this decision, they feel bad – like they’ve done or are doing something wrong. Is this because abortion is wrong or because society has decided it’s so and forced people to look at abortion this way? I think it’s the latter, thank you.

The point of this awful article is that she thinks that if progressives give up having abortions funded through a public health care system, that this public option might go somewhere. She thinks that conservatives care so much about abortion that they’d give up other important things, like higher taxes and bigger government. Even if we gave up having abortions funded (which quite frankly we shouldn’t have to), a public health care plan is a long way off – if it ever actually happens. This article was clearly written by someone with means, someone who didn’t grow up having to think how to get $400+ together quickly. She clearly doesn’t work with low-income women. She is lucky. She has a choice and she can exercise it.

If she knows of all these people with all the money to fund private abortion funds, can she have them all contact NNAF? Thanks.