-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email In 2024, the National Abortion Federation and Planned Parenthood’s Justice Fund had the largest budget in its history. Still, on July 1, the organizations had to make the difficult decision to slash their budgets from giving 50 percent assistance to people to 30 percent with no exceptions. This comes at a time when many abortion clinics in the north are seeing a surge in patients as a repercussion of Florida’s six-week abortion ban, and as Iowa’s six-week ban is expected to take effect later this month .
“We had to make this shift in funding because the need has skyrocketed with so many additional bans and people being forced to travel further care,” Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation, told Salon in a phone call. Fonteno added they’ve been spending approximately $6 million per month on procedural funding and upwards of $200,000 per month on travel funding. “At the previous rate of funding, that $6 million mark, we would have run out of funds in the fall, leaving so many people without the vital support they need to access care," she said.
Related When "abortion travel" becomes a nightmare: A tale of no good choices A decrease in funding per patient allows the organizations to stretch the fund and make sure they don’t turn anyone away for the rest of the year. The funds are usually used to cover procedures and travel costs. It’s estimated that only one in three Americans can comforta.