Kentucky's Abortion Funds stretched thin

Kentucky Health Justice Network one of a handful of groups that would be challenged by massive shift in abortion care to out-of-state providers

(Photo courtesy of the Kentucky Health Justice Network)

Abortion funds have been stretched thin in places like Kentucky where access has been threatened by legislative action at the state level. Groups there have had to plan for costs doubling for the people they help as abortion care shifts out of state with the closure of local clinics. 

That’s in addition to the added costs they’ve seen as a result of the economic hit caused by COVID-19. 

“COVID hit hard,” said Erin Smith, executive director of the Kentucky Health Justice Network. “With COVID, there were a lot more financial barriers because people were losing their jobs. People were getting laid off or furloughed, and it definitely affected people's income significantly. So we were getting calls with a heavier ask. 

“So if a caller might have only asked for 50 To 100 to 150, we were getting calls asking for twice that or to fully fund the entire abortion, which we often did, but we often weren't able to fulfill that.” 

KHJN is a reproductive justice organization that advocates for abortion-seekers in rural areas along with those who are members of the LGBTQ and minority communities. 

Now with the clinics potentially closing in Louisville because of the state’s recent abortion bill, residents there will have to travel to Ohio or Illinois among other places to get a procedure. That means longer travel times and more expensive lodging if it were done in someplace like Chicago. Previously, they had sent some people out of state to get the procedure done because of the overdemand for in-state ones. But the onus would then shift entirely to providers elsewhere. 

“It wouldn't be our first time having to send people out of state for abortions,” Smith said. “But the change would be is that that would be all of them. That would be all of the ones who are asking for an abortion.” 

Smith said that larger feminist organizations can help with financial support for smaller groups like theirs. 

“What people don't know or often don't know to look for are smaller organizations like KHJN that are doing this work who need the funding,” Smith said. “Because if you give to Planned Parenthood, it's not going to come to us, right, it's gonna stay with Planned Parenthood, which makes sense. 

“I would like to see a restructuring of getting from larger organizations who do have the support and they do have the finances but organizations like us don't have them.”