Hey! If you’re in or traveling to the D.C. Metro region, we’re your local abortion fund—by that we mean we pay for your abortion care. With no eligibility requirements or strings attached, we are here to make sure abortion access happens. Period.
We were founded in 1995—far before Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022—so you could say we’ve been around the block when it comes to abortion funding. Abortion is STILL LEGAL in D.C. at any stage of pregnancy, and the D.C. region has some of the country’s best clinics and providers ready to help you, no matter where you’re coming from. So are we.
Head to our Get Help page to learn more about getting your abortion funded, our Volunteer page to get involved, and our Donate page to buy a local abortion—you won’t regret it!
We’re thrilled to be back in person for our annual holiday party! Join us at Cotton & Reed on December 7 at 6:00pm. At our annual holiday party, you can learn more about DCAF’s work, meet the staff, volunteers, and board members who keep DCAF running, and join us in a toast to peace, joy, and abortion access!
DCAF’s holiday party is:
The best party you’ll attend this year–we promise!
A fun way to further support abortion access in the DC region.
An opportunity to celebrate the supporters and volunteers that make our work possible.
Click here for event details, sponsorship opportunities, and ticket sales!
We don’t need to tell you that it is an infuriating, uncertain, and scary time for abortion rights and access. Every day, we see new restrictions passed in states across the country and chaos and confusion as the laws in some states change by the hour. This means more and more people will be forced to travel hundreds of miles for their abortions.
These past few months, the DCAF team has been busy responding to the growing need for abortion funding. But we’ve also been doing the necessary work to ensure we are prepared for every shift in the abortion access landscape.
DCAF has also seen an amazing wave of support and interest from people in DC, Maryland, Virginia, and across the country who want to be more involved in this movement. Thank you to everyone who has donated, fundraised, hosted events, signed up to volunteer, or shared information about DCAF and abortion funds with your friends and family.
As the fall kicks off, we want to take a moment to let our community know what’s been happening here at DCAF and what you can do to help us continue doing what we’ve always done: fund abortions.
Meeting the unprecedented demand for abortion funding
Even before the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, DCAF was already stepping up to meet increased need from people struggling to access abortion care in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. We’ve been fielding more calls, from people with greater funding gaps to fill, ever since the pandemic began two and half years ago. In the past year, DCAF pledged over $1.3M to almost 6,000 callers–doubling what we pledged the prior year.
Our case managers only had the budget available to make these pledges to callers because of the outpouring of support from donors like you. Thank you!
Exciting changes for DCAF: Meet our staff!
In 2022, DCAF achieved the milestone of bringing on the first full-time paid staff in our organization’s 27-year history. This change ensures DCAF can keep expanding and improving our services in an equitable and sustainable way for years to come.
We’re pleased to introduce you to:
Shannon Ens, Director of Caller Services and Engagement
Allison Tombros Korman, Director of Operations and Strategy
Alisha Dingus, Director of Development
We need your help!
The support and attention DCAF has received in the past few months has been incredible. But we know our work – to help make sure every person who needs an abortion can afford and access it, even in a post-Roe world – is a marathon, not a sprint. We are building a long-term movement not only to fund abortions but to break down abortion stigma and ultimately change systems and policies to make abortion accessible to all.
The DC Abortion Fund today expressed its deep outrage and disappointment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that has overturned Roe v. Wade, decimating the right to abortion across the country. Like many in our work, we are not surprised by this decision; however, we are angry and disheartened.
This decision will activate trigger laws in 13 states, banning abortion immediately or within several weeks for millions of people. Patients across the country currently face significant social, economic, and logistical barriers to accessing abortion services, and this ruling will only increase those barriers, forcing countless patients to travel across state lines to get their procedures and making care even more difficult to obtain. We expect that many other states will now seek to pass abortion bans like Mississippi’s 15-week ban.
While Roe v. Wade was critical to ensuring the legality of abortion across the country, it did not guarantee access to abortion for all. Wealthy white women were not burdened by difficulty in accessing abortions before Roe, and they will not be burdened by it after Roe. Instead, communities already facing barriers to healthcare access – particularly Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, transgender people, people in rural areas, young people, undocumented people, and people with low incomes – will be disproportionately affected. Abortion funds like DCAF have always believed that Roe was the floor – it was never sufficient to ensure safe, accessible abortions for all. Abortion funds were created to bridge that gap for patients.
Today, the systems of oppression that deny Black, Indigenous, and other people of color their rights worked exactly as they were designed. Abortion bans are rooted in anti-Black racism, white supremacy, and other forms of discrimination.
Although the protections of Roe v. Wade are gone, DCAF will continue our work to build a world beyond Roe where access is a reality for all, regardless of race, zip code, or income. Funds have been leading the way and will continue to do so as we navigate these anti-abortion threats together. We will continue to do what we have always done for over 26 years: fund abortions. Our mission and our vision will never change.
Just as the need for abortion care is growing, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, making abortion illegal or inaccessible in roughly half of the country.
Even with Roe intact, abortions are still out of reach for so many. Financial, logistical, and social barriers prevent people from getting the abortion care they need.
This is why DCAF exists. For 27 years, we’ve created pathways to abortion access for our callers. No matter what happens, our mission will not change. Our lines will stay open and we will do what we’ve always done–make sure people can get the abortions they need.
The best way to fight back right now is to make a donation to DCAF. And if you can, consider making it monthly. An ongoing, monthly commitment ensures we can show up every single day for those who need us the most.
DCAF imagines a future where abortion is accessible and available in every community. Join our movement.
We want this community to know and understand two critical things:
First, abortion is still legal in all 50 states and you can still access care.
Second, our work has not and will not change. We will continue to support our callers and help ensure they can get the abortions they seek.
We want to thank this community for the outpouring of support we have seen in light of this news. We are still in the midst of Fund-a-Thon 2022, our largest fundraiser of the year. Thanks to you all’s support, we have surpassed our original fundraising goal and are now aiming to raise $275,000 by May 31.
In 2021, we faced what felt impossible and our very existence came into question for the first time.
In 2021, our pledge volume more than doubled almost overnight as our callers faced growing financial barriers due to multiple health and economic crises. We pledged over $100,000 every single month of 2021 (sometimes well over). Across the country, people seeking abortions are facing unprecedented new hurdles in addition to the longstanding ones.
Pulling together our annual report for FY2021 (which covers July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2021), we recognize that this increased demand is only expected to continue as abortion access continues to be threatened.
Yet 2021 also ushered in an exciting new phase for DCAF, as we began a transition from a volunteer-run organization to paid staff one with paid employees for the first time in our history.
Your support made a direct impact in meeting the needs of patients over the past fiscal year when mutual aid became more critical than ever, and we are so grateful for your continued support as the need continues.
No matter what the world throws at us, our lines stay open, and that wouldn’t be possible without your support. Thank you so much.
