Donations to U.S. abortion rights teams, clinics surge after Supreme Courtroom leak

Could 4 (Reuters) - Donations have flooded into abortion clinics and abortion-rights advocacy groups since the leak of a U.S. Supreme Court docket draft ruling that showed 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 People to abortion clinics, groups that help people pay for abortions and organizations searching for to protect abortion access.

Beneficiaries included national organizations with large operating budgets in addition to small, unbiased clinics and regional teams which can be usually overlooked.

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NARAL Professional-Choice America, a nonprofit that obtained $12.9 million in donations in fiscal 12 months 2021, noticed a 1,403% increase in donations in the 24 hours after the information broke in comparison with the day earlier than, spokesperson Kristin Ford stated. Fifty-one % of donors were giving for the first time.

Between Monday evening and midday Wednesday, more than 4,000 donors gave greater than $100,000 to the Abortion Care Network, a national association of 150 impartial U.S. abortion clinics. That was the largest wave of donations over that size of time that the association had ever received.

The cash will go on to the clinics and assist them keep open to supply reproductive health services even if state laws prohibit them from offering abortions, the network's Executive

Director Nikki Madsen said.

"We'll proceed to be preventing in the states to bring again abortion access," Madsen said. "We need to keep these clinics open in that interim."

Advocates both for and in opposition to abortion rights say they may use the Supreme Courtroom's ruling, expected by the end 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 reply to inquiries about donations.

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

The Roe Fund, an abortion fund in Oklahoma that provides 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 said.

On Tuesday evening, Oklahoma enacted a law banning abortions after six weeks of being pregnant, shutting down almost all abortion providers in the state. learn more

"This is actually the most important surge (in donations) I've seen in the 13 years I have been doing this work," Massey said.

The Kentucky Health Justice Network, another abortion fund, received greater than 1,000 donations with a mean value of $50 since Monday night time, Operations Director Ashley Jacobs stated on Wednesday. When a Kentucky legislation suspended in-state abortion providers for eight days in April, the community assisted sufferers touring to Ohio and Indiana for abortions.

Donors additionally gave to organizations in areas that might see an inflow of sufferers looking for abortions as a result of local laws shield abortion rights.

The DC Abortion Fund, which funds abortions in the nation's capital as well as in Virginia and Maryland, acquired 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; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Osterman

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