2026, the 30th year of DCAF, was one for the record books.
Even while facing illegal occupation, constant surveillance, and threats to DC home rule, you rallied to aid more abortion seekers than any other year in DCAF history.
A LOVE LETTER TO OUR COMMUNITY
Thirty and thriving.
Thirty and raging.
The past year can be summed up in one sentence: The highs were higher, but the lows were lower.
The fiscal year had barely begun before federal troops descended upon DC—an illegal occupation that continues to this day. With ICE and National Guard troops infiltrating our streets, homes, and businesses, it has placed our Black and Brown neighbors at increased risk. Meanwhile, heavy surveillance—extending to both DCA and Dulles—continues to deliberately terrorize abortion seekers, even in an abortion safe haven.
And meet the moment you did.
In FY 2026, the thirtieth year of celebrating and funding abortion, you raised a show-stopping $2,277,768 for abortion access—our second-highest fundraising year on record. You aided 4,388 callers, the most in DCAF history (breaking our 2023 record of 3,990 callers). You raised a staggering $36,400 in 33 hours across four emergency fundraising requests. All year, this community locked in to provide refuge to those seeking later care in DC, as they couldn’t access care anywhere else.
Is DCAF thirty and thriving? Perhaps. But we see ourselves more as thirty and in the trenches to get abortion care to anyone who needs it. Even amidst this dark reality where the federal government stomps our streets, destroys our buildings, and paints sh*t gold, we rise, rally, and celebrate our rage, together.
A GLIMPSE INTO OUR CALENDAR
Celebrating the highs from 2026.
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Launched the 30th Anniversary campaign
July
With eight creative AF activations around the city leading up to our 30th extravaganza.
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Published resources to protect our community
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Raised $5,250 in a triple-event weekend
September
With a sold-out comedy show, happy hour and festival with Just Kidding Comedy Collective, City-State Public House, and All Things Go.
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Celebrated 30 years of funding abortion
December
With a blow-out bash at 930 club, smashing our end-of-year fundraising goal with $445k raised in one month.
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Raised $15,500 in ONE HOUR
January
No, that’s not a typo; and yes, that’s an all-time record for closing an emergency funding request.
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Stacked a Galentine’s Day calendar with epic events
February
Including dance parties, comedy shoes, concerts, and vintage sales to raise funds for abortion access.
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Celebrated with cider at ANXO
March
Kicking off our annual fund-a-thon campaign, Funding abortion in a f/cked up world, at Brightwood Pizza.
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Raised $28,606 at My Body My Festival
May
For our fourth straight year, local artists carried the torch for abortion access (shoutout to our new partner, Noise for Now).
Our data disclaimer:
The DC Abortion Fund analyzed data taken from our warm lines over the past fiscal year, from July 2025 to June 2026. Below, we cite third-party resources to tell a broader story. Any statistic without a hyperlink is sourced from our own, raw data. Note: Some numbers may have a minimal variance due to fulfillment rate—i.e., DCAF pledges that ultimately went unused by callers.
Special thanks to our data connoisseur, Francisco Brady, for all his work in aggregating our data.
FY 2026 totals
First things first: You raised $2,823,793 for abortion access.
We helped 3,524 access abortion care.
A three-year high, and 398 higher than last year.
Our average pledge was $550.28
To help callers close their funding gaps.
We pledged $1,850,847 for callers
For procedures ranging from $500 to $15,000+.
We set a budget of $38,000 a week
And even with scheduled closures, we burned through it. (Like, a lot.)
WHAT WE NEEDED
While celebrating our highest fundraising year since Dobbs, here’s the hard truth: We needed $15,996,802 to fully fund every caller.
$1,156,755 needed in October
$1,147,132 needed in June
$1,089,657 needed in September
$979,965 needed in July
LINE CLOSURES
We accepted that we will continuously run out of money.
After being forced to shut down our lines for half the month of November 2024, we decided to schedule our closures. This year, we preemptively shut down our lines for one week in November and one week in March to give our team a break, preserve our budget, and give callers the opportunity to contact other funds.
282 calls in November
A 38% decrease from October, due to shutting down our lines.
439 calls in January
A 13% increase from December, as calls increase after the holidays.
421 calls in
February
A 4% decrease from January, as we shut down our lines.
547 calls in
June
A 31% increase from calls in May, as calls spike throughout the summer.
Caller race
A lack of abortion access disproportionately impacts Black and Brown communities.
77.36% of reporting callers are Black
11.99% of reporting callers are Hispanic
6.16% of reporting callers are White
2.38% of reporting callers are Multiracial
out-of-state callers
We’re getting more callers from “blue states” than ever before.
Riddle us this: Why do Pennsylvania and New York–where abortion remains legal to 23 and 24 weeks, respectively—rank among our top five for out-of-state callers?
The answer can be summed up in one word: access.
While DCAF continues to support callers throughout the Southeast—one of the largest, and most heavily-surveilled regions in the country—we’ve experienced an influx of callers where abortion remains “legal.” (And yes, those quotes were intentional with a heavy dose of passive aggressiveness.) With gestational age limits instated in both NY and PA, people still have to travel to receive later care. The irony? New York does offer later care—but only under special, rare circumstances. Therefore, many callers still turn to DC.
187 calls from Florida
Six-week ban
121 calls from North Carolina
Six-week ban
93 calls from Georgia
Six-week ban
87 calls from Pennsylvania
23-week ban
41 calls from New York
24-week ban
CALLERS’ GESTATIONAL AGES
Fact: Abortion bans push people further into pregnancy.
A ban is a ban is a ban. Read that sentence again. Any ban, law, or restriction that prevents callers from getting access to abortion care pushes callers further into pregnancy. This, in turn, increases the costs, risks, and emotional and mental toll of each procedure.
We make (and will continue to make) this argument every year—because the problem gets worse every.single.year. As barriers to access increase nationwide, so does the gestational age of out-of-state callers. While, here in DC, gestational age has remained steady for three straight years.
2024
19.5 weeks at intake
10 weeks at intake
2025
21.8 weeks at intake
10.1 weeks at intake
2026
21.9 weeks at intake
10.1 weeks at intake
Outside the DMVinside the DMVFUNDING NEEDS FOR CALLERS
The overwhelming majority of callers fell into two funding tiers: Those with a gap under $750, and those with a gap over $5,000.
In the United States, 9 in 10 abortions happen in the first trimester, and cost roughly $500–750. The overwhelming number of our callers (1,308) fall in this same bracket. And yet, because DC remains one of the few places in the country where abortion is legal at all stages of pregnancy, 764 callers faced abortion costs exceeding $5,000.
$500–$749 procedures
1308 callers
< $500 procedures
853 callers
$5,000 procedures
764 callers
$750–999 procedures
241 callers
CALLERS WITH A GESTATIONAL AGE OVER 30 WEEKS
Delayed funds leads to delayed care—which is something we all need to understand.
DCAF firmly supports abortion at all stages of pregnancy. That said, later care significantly drives up abortion costs, which has caused many community members to ask, “Why delay care in the first place?”
People often seek later care because they received new information—such as a fetal diagnosis that the fetus is no longer viable or the pregnant person won’t survive the pregnancy. Other times, care is delayed while the pregnant person scrapes together funds to afford care. Think about it: How many times have you…:
✓ Delayed buying a plane ticket, even though you knew prices would only go up?
✓ Delayed buying new running shoes, even when worn shoes increased your risk of injury?
✓ Delayed making a dentist appointment, because you didn’t have insurance, couldn’t figure out your insurance, or couldn’t find a reputable doctor who accepted your insurance, until you were certain you had a cavity and risked an emergency procedure?
Later care is a three-day procedure paid out of pocket—without the ability to supplement with insurance or federal funds (like Medicaid). Combined with 1) associated costs including childcare, travel expenses, and time off work; and 2) the mental toll of understanding how to access a procedure that’s only available in five cities in the entire United States, it’s understandable that callers delay care (or get trapped in a cycle of reschedules as they try to find funding).
783 callers had a gestational age at 30+ weeks
Compared to 728 callers in FY 2025
DCAF experienced a 7.55% increase in later care callers
Compared to FY 2025
EMERGENCY REQUESTS
You set an all-time record for emergency requests, raising $15,500 in just one hour.
Yes, we do save emergencies for emergencies—and this incredible community always answers the call. In FY 2026, we had four emergency funding requests, ranging from $5,000 to $15,500. You have a perfect streak of closing four-for-four requests, in as little as one hour.
Here’s the hard truth: Due to tighter budgets, clinics sometimes cannot/will not see people with funding gaps. Therefore, the choice is clear: Either abortion funds rally, rush, and strategize to close a gap, or the caller doesn’t receive care. Even then, we try to limit emergency requests to just one per quarter, to preserve our budget.
$15,000 in January
Closed in one hour.
$6,900 in August
Closed in two hours.
$5,000 in October
Closed in six hours.
$9,000 in June
Closed in 24 hours.
Real stories from callers
What happens when we can’t close a funding gap?
If a caller can’t close their funding gap, the alternative is simple: They’re forced to continue their pregnancy, likely going through with birth.
This summer, a Virginia-based caller with a gestational age of 25 weeks reached out to DCAF. Even with six funds collaborating, we couldn’t close the funding gap. DCAF and our sibling funds continued to strategize until the last day the caller could get an abortion, but we couldn’t close the gap.
Do we like this ending? Obviously not. But it’s a sobering reminder that when bans and restrictions are in place, not everyone gets care.
TIME BETWEEN INTAKE AND APPOINTMENT
Hauling ass for abortion access.
For four years (and counting) we’ve been on an uninterrupted streak for decreasing the time between intake and appointment. From FY 2023 to FY 2026, we’ve nearly cut this timeframe by a third, helping callers get the care they need, faster.
FY 2023
9.22 days
FY 2024
7.52 days
FY 2025
5.92 days
FY 2026
6.38 days
Most callers helped in a single year? Check.
Second-highest fundraising year on record? Check.
You👏did👏that. Due to your radical support and savvy fundraising, we will be able to increase our budget by roughly $300,000 in 2027.
In a year where our rights, privacy, sanity, and safety were consistently under attack, this community proved that, no matter what, DC will continue to welcome, celebrate, and support abortion seekers. To every person who supported bodily autonomy this year, thank you. You made the 30th year of DCAF one we will never forget.
In love and rage, DCAF