Researcher looks at lending programs to pay for abortions

Peer-to-peer services like Lending Tree may be the answer to funding for reproductive care

(Dr. Brad Greenwood)

People who lived during the days of back alley abortions may remember the embarrassment of asking for money to pay for an illegal procedure. It was uncomfortable and the woman didn’t know if the person they asked would help or not. Now, there are methods of getting money for abortions that don’t require in-person questions and explanations. 

Dr. Brad Greenwood, an associate professor of Information Systems and Operations Management at George Mason University’s School of Business, looked into how peer-to-peer funding programs like Lending Tree may help people pay for abortion care. He wrote a paper that is available here. 

“There is some anecdotal evidence,” Greenwood said, “at least if you look on forums like Reddit or other popular online forums, where people actually discuss the utilization of peer-to-peer sites in order to acquire the funds that are necessary in order to obtain an abortion.”

The typical cost of a first-trimester abortion is between $490 and $1,320 without accounting for transportation, lodging or post-procedure care. According to Greenwood’s research though, the actual cost because of regulations or other barriers may go up to the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. 

Since so many health insurers (along with Medicaid) don’t cover the cost of abortion, Greenwood and his fellow researchers looked at how LendingClub, an online lending operation, would help with this problem. He argued that these services could help alleviate the costs women incur when getting abortions. 

“The argument is that these lending services can help defray the cost of seeking out the procedure by creating a structured loan process,” Greenwood said.