6. ASK FOR HELP PRACTICAL SUPPORT NETWORKS CAN PROVIDE FINANCIAL AID AND MORE.

finding a legal accessible abortion isn’t the only impediment to receiving one. Logistical and financial challenges can stand in the way of care. The cost of abortion ranges wildly depending on location, insurance, and stage of pregnancy, from around $500 for an early-term medication abortion well into four figures for later abortions. Then there are the other things you might need: “Rides, child care, back wages, funding for food or gas cards, even abortion-doula support,” lists Debasri Ghosh of the National Network of Abortion

Funds. Abortion funds like NNAF were initially set up to help lowincome people finance abortions, but over time they’ve evolved to provide a range of care. “These and other requirements or desires are part of a holistic, compassionate experience of getting an abortion, despite all the barriers,” says Ghosh.

Abortion funds—there are more than 90 across the country in almost every state—refer to these kinds of services as “practical support.” Diana Parker-Kafka of the

Midwest Access Coalition says its mission is to offer “whatever work is needed to get over the barriers that are unique to each individual’s life.”

Some abortion funds, like Access Reproductive Care–Southeast,

provide funding for both the procedure and the logistics involved in accessing an abortion—especially when patients have to travel to unfamiliar parts of the country. “We had to send someone to Colorado in order to get their abortion,” says arc Southeast’s Oriaku Njoku. The client lived in the South and wasn’t accustomed to cold winter weather. So the help-line coordinator walked the client through it: It’s cold there, so make sure to bundle up. Is someone traveling with you? Are you all good with driving in the snow? “Little things like that make a huge difference,” Njoku says.

Typically patients contact the abortion fund after they’ve made an appointment at a clinic. It’s best to choose an abortion fund that serves the area where you live, since they’re more likely to have a local community network that can help with things like transportation. Abortion-fund hotlines are confidential, so calling is better than email.

If your local abortion fund doesn’t cover practical support, ask for a reference and it can point you to a group that can help. You can also contact organizations like MAC

or the Brigid Alliance. Staffed by trained experts, these groups will help book your transportation and lodging and arrange other needs, including child care and rideshares.

More of this kind of help is on the way. Later this year, NNAF will pilot a first-of-its-kind regional support program for five abortion funds in the Carolinas, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., called

Operation Scale-Up. It will feature a shared, universal hotline connecting abortion seekers to resources.

Apiary for Practical Support, a technical assistance and resource hub for practical support organizations, is working with NNAF and ineedana.com to create a holistic directory of resources and information about all of the funds and organizations, and a unified back end will allow abortion funds and practical-support workers to keep track of client requests. Apiary’s Marisa Falcon acknowledges the race against the clock. “We’re trying to get as much of it done before June as possible.”