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

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

The draft ruling, which was revealed by Politico on Monday night, sparked a frenzy of giving by Individuals to abortion clinics, groups that help people pay for abortions and organizations in search of to protect abortion access.

Beneficiaries included nationwide organizations with large working budgets in addition to small, unbiased clinics and regional teams which can be usually ignored.

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NARAL Pro-Choice America, a nonprofit that obtained $12.9 million in donations in fiscal year 2021, noticed a 1,403% improve in donations in the 24 hours after the news broke in comparison with the day earlier than, spokesperson Kristin Ford mentioned. Fifty-one percent of donors had 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 independent U.S. abortion clinics. That was the most important wave of donations over that length of time that the affiliation had ever acquired.

The cash will go on to the clinics and assist them stay open to offer reproductive well being providers even if state legal guidelines prohibit them from offering abortions, the community's Government

Director Nikki Madsen said.

"We're going to proceed to be preventing within the states to convey again abortion entry," Madsen mentioned. "We have to keep these clinics open in that interim."

Advocates each for and in opposition to abortion rights say they will use the Supreme Courtroom's ruling, anticipated by the tip of June, to mobilize voters for the 2022 midterm elections. Nationwide anti-abortion groups Susan B. Anthony Listing and March for Life didn't immediately respond to inquiries about donations.

Deliberate Parenthood and Emily's Checklist, teams that advocate for reproductive rights, also didn't immediately respond.

The Roe Fund, an abortion fund in Oklahoma that offers money to the state's clinics to help patients' procedures, had more than 8,000 donors contribute greater 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 being pregnant, shutting down nearly all abortion providers within the state. read more

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

The Kentucky Health Justice Community, one other abortion fund, received greater than 1,000 donations with a median worth of $50 since Monday evening, Operations Director Ashley Jacobs stated on Wednesday. When a Kentucky legislation suspended in-state abortion services for eight days in April, the network assisted patients traveling to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors additionally gave to organizations in areas that would see an inflow of patients seeking abortions as a result of native laws defend abortion rights.

The DC Abortion Fund, which funds abortions within the nation's capital in addition to in Virginia and Maryland, received greater than $105,000 in donations between Monday night time and Wednesday morning, spokesperson Devin Simpson stated.

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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.