about EMA

what is an abortion fund?

In simplest terms, an abortion fund is a financial resource for women who need help paying for their abortions. 

Nothing is ever simple, of course.

Abortion funds stand at the intersection of a system of laws that have increasingly burdened abortion access for all women, and the reality of institutionalized systems of oppression that ensure that poor women, indigenous women, young women, immigrant women, and a disproportionate number of women of color have little control over their bodies, fertility, and future.

An unplanned pregnancy does not occur in a vacuum – women still need to pay rent, work multiple jobs, care for their families, and negotiate a world hostile to their situation. So, while abortion funds cannot destroy the institutional racism, classism, or misogyny that women continue to face; and while abortion funds cannot ensure that women are paid their worth or child care is free, they can – and do – help women today. 

A recent study by Ibis Reproductive Health reports that abortion funds provide at least partial coverage for 10% to 35 % of clinic abortions.¹ Indeed, when public healthcare is not an option and private insurance does not cover abortion, abortion funds are the only safety nets. For this reason, they are indispensable to women who persistently face obstacles to abortion.

As a member of the reproductive health care movement, the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion (EMA) Fund’s scope is necessarily a narrow one – increasing access to safe and reliable abortion information and services. EMA accomplishes this by collaborating with women who need abortions, their healthcare providers, and other abortion funds around the country. As we endeavor to contribute to the reproductive justice movement – an activist movement that combats the root causes of the social injustices that interfere with women’s ability to create the families they want, within the circumstances they choose – the EMA Fund intends to partner with social justice organizations in eastern Massachusetts to amplify our impact, and provide our volunteers and supporters with opportunities for advocacy and education on issues of vital importance to women and girls in our community.

The EMA Fund is committed to a future that honors women and girls’ right to self determination, health, and justice; a future in which all of us can obtain the reproductive health care we seek. The part EMA plays in realizing this future is focused, but integral.

We invite you to be our partners.

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1. Kacanek D, Dennis A, Miller K, Blanchard K. Availability of public funding for abortions under the Hyde amendment: Provider’s experiences. National Abortion Federation 32nd Annual Meeting. Minneapolis, MN. April 2008; unpublished data from Ibis Reproductive Health, 2008. Providers participating in the study also acknowledge that local and national abortion funds are “a primary support system for both women and clinics”, and “the first resource they turn to” for clients that cannot afford abortions and are either not eligible for public funds or not on a public health insurance plan. Id.