Third Wave Foundation’s Emergency Abortion Fund (EAF) seeks to prevent economic injustice from determining the reproductive outcomes of young people, particularly for young people of color and low-income young people. While there are several funds that operate locally and nationally to meet this critical need for young people. Third Wave stands alone in connecting their abortion funding to the funding that they provide to grassroots and national organizations that challenge systemic inequities within the healthcare system, including barriers to abortion access.
Third Wave’s organizational grant partners have been instrumental in defeating ballot initiatives that have sought to establish fetal personhood in Colorado (COLOR) and parental notification in California (Khmer Girls in Action). Groups like Chicago Abortion Fund, SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, and Young Women United have challenged mainstream media messaging that frames abortion as genocide, or that invalidates the experiences of young mothers. Through their pledges to people seeking abortions and grants to organizations that advocate for reproductive justice, Third Wave seeks to impact the abortion landscape at the individual, community, and systemic levels.
This summer, Third Wave is releasing a new report compiling Emergency Abortion Fund (EAF) data for 2010.
Some of the key findings of this report include:
– The vast majority of minors we pledged to were legally required to notify their parents, or obtain consent from them. Of the 148 pledges made to minors, 64 (nearly half) had their abortions in states requiring parental consent, and 47 required parental notification. In addition, 13 minors deemed it necessary to seek a judicial bypass – that is, appealing to a judge to override the parental consent or notification mandate – for their own safety.
– 85% of pledges were directed towards second trimester procedures. 10% went towards first trimester procedures. 5% of pledges went towards third trimester abortions.
– 83% of pledges were made to people of color.
– 49% of pledge recipients had at least one child at the time of their abortion. Of the people with children, the vast majority had no involvement of a partner.
– 16% of all pledge recipients were pregnant as a result of rape. Of those pledge recipients, 10% were pregnant as a result of incest. Of the people we funded under the age of 14, 48% disclosed that they were pregnant as a result of rape.
– 9% of people we funded told us they were experiencing violence from their partner. Overall, partner involvement was very low; only 15% of pledge recipients had a partner involved. Of those cases where a partner was involved, 57% involved physical violence. Of the 505 people we funded, only 6% had a partner involved who wasn’t physically violent.
– 17% of pledge recipients were homeless compared with 10% in 2009 and 6.5% in 2008.
This report release comes as several bills are pending at state and federal levels that threaten to make it even more challenging to secure a safe and affordable abortion. At Third Wave it is believed that now is a crucial time to share what we know about funding abortions for low-income young people to increase support and advocacy within the field.
For full report, please visit this link.
