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

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

The draft ruling, which was printed by Politico on Monday night, sparked a frenzy of giving by Americans to abortion clinics, groups that help people pay for abortions and organizations looking for to preserve abortion access.

Beneficiaries included national organizations with large operating budgets as well as small, unbiased clinics and regional groups which might be typically missed.

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NARAL Pro-Selection America, a nonprofit that received $12.9 million in donations in fiscal 12 months 2021, saw a 1,403% increase in donations in the 24 hours after the news broke compared to the day before, spokesperson Kristin Ford mentioned. Fifty-one p.c of donors had been giving for the primary time.

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

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

Director Nikki Madsen stated.

"We're going to continue to be fighting within the states to convey again abortion entry," Madsen said. "We have to keep those clinics open in that interim."

Advocates each for and in opposition to abortion rights say they may use the Supreme Court docket's ruling, anticipated by the tip of June, to mobilize voters for the 2022 midterm elections. National anti-abortion teams Susan B. Anthony Checklist and March for Life didn't instantly reply to inquiries about donations.

Planned Parenthood and Emily's List, groups that advocate for reproductive rights, also did not immediately reply.

The Roe Fund, an abortion fund in Oklahoma that offers money to the state's clinics to help sufferers' procedures, had more than 8,000 donors contribute greater than $50,000 on Tuesday, the fund's Treasurer Janice Massey mentioned.

On Tuesday night time, Oklahoma enacted a legislation banning abortions after six weeks of being pregnant, shutting down virtually all abortion companies within the state. read more

"That is definitely the most important surge (in donations) I've seen within the 13 years I have been doing this work," Massey stated.

The Kentucky Well being 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 providers for eight days in April, the community assisted patients traveling to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors additionally gave to organizations in areas that would see an inflow of sufferers seeking abortions because local laws defend abortion rights.

The DC Abortion Fund, which funds abortions in the nation's capital as well as in Virginia and Maryland, obtained more than $105,000 in donations between Monday night time and Wednesday morning, spokesperson Devin Simpson mentioned.

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

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