About Us
Our Mission
We believe the path to reproductive freedom for all women and girls requires unrestricted access to healthcare and pregnancy options. The DC Abortion Fund works with women’s clinics in our community to help break down the financial barriers to abortion that women and girls face in the District of Columbia’s metropolitan area, including parts of Maryland and Virginia.
The DC Abortion Fund is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization that makes grants and no-interest loans to DC regional women who cannot afford the full cost of an abortion. We cover the gap between what women can afford and the abortion cost, making the freedom of choice a reality for all women.
In just one year, The DC Abortion Fund has had great success providing financial support for women’s reproductive healthcare decisions. In 2006, we made monetary pledges for 70 women to obtain abortions. Our case managers assisted an additional 163 clients with pregnancy options counseling.
Unfortunately, this represents only a fraction of low-income women who face tenuous emotional and financial circumstances due to inadequate state and federal resources for reproductive healthcare. Nearly 1 out of 5 (19.1%) DC residents live at or below the poverty line – the 3rd highest poverty rate in the nation. Maryland and Virginia also have significant populations of poor residents, of which DCAF supports.
Our History
In 1995, a social worker at the DC Rape Crisis Center was working with a rape survivor who found out she was pregnant. In an effort to raise quick funds for the woman, who wanted an abortion, the social worker email blasted her entire address book asking for money. She raised enough money for the procedure and even had leftover resources. When she asked her colleagues what she should do with the extra money, they told her to "save it for the next time..." thus the DC Abortion Fund (DCAF) began.
For nearly six years, our fund operated by a handful of dedicated supporters. However, call volume to our hotline, providing options counseling and financial assistance, and assuring the fund’s fiscal stability became a job for more than a few people. In late 2005, a group of committed volunteers joined together to formally establish The DC Abortion Fund.
In 2006, our current Board of Directors started fresh. We standardized operating procedures for the fund, incorporated as a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia, obtained 501(c)3 status through the National Network of Abortion Funds, and implemented systematic fundraising efforts.
Today, we have four Board Directors – two dedicated to fundraising and communications; one committed to advocacy, public education, and being our legal liaison; and one devoted to service provision as our Director of Case Management. The Board of Directors is joined by a task force of highly dedicated volunteers: six Case Managers, a pro bono attorney, an accountant, a graphic designer and multiple website engineers. Despite our organizational growth of nearly 500% in workers, we hold true to our roots as an all-volunteer, woman-led fund.
Why fund abortions?
The cost of a first-trimester abortion can be more than a family on public assistance receives in a month. Even many working women do not have enough extra money for an abortion. Low-income women and girls often delay their abortions while trying to raise the money they need. Many times, these delays force them into more expensive and complicated second-trimester abortions. Some never get enough money to cover the cost of the procedure.
We realize that for most of our clients, abortion is not the means that will eradicate poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, drug abuse, or other forms of oppression they face. Yet, in the midst of these everyday problems, The DC Abortion Fund steps in to financially assist clients and take one concern away.
Our hotline provides a safe and confidential connection to healthcare services often restricted by today’s political climate around abortion. Our work ensures quality reproductive health care for all women regardless of income.
Our geographic scope as a locally based organization affords us the ability to reach an ever-growing constituency of women and girls in need of our services. We partner with the National Abortion Federation and National Network of Abortion Funds to assist women and girls in extraordinary circumstances that reside beyond our geographic service area.
