Fund Abortion NYC

In 2018, New York City made history for abortion access as the first city in the nation to directly fund abortion care, allocating $250,000 in its 2019 budget. With continued advocacy, it has renewed this funding every year since. Funding gets allocated to the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), which helps hundreds of people each year pay for the abortion care they need when facing economic and logistical barriers to access.

NIRH Action Fund joined the New York Abortion Access Fund, All* Above All, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health New York LAN, Reproductive Health Access Project, Abortion Access Front, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum NYC Chapter, the National Council of Jewish Women New York, and WHARR as a part of the #FundAbortion NYC coalition to advocate for this funding.

Despite local laws and policies that improve access to abortion in New York State and New York City, many barriers to access remain. This funding help address barriers to care in NYC, such as:

• Federal insurance ban on abortion coverage 
• Concerns about safety and confidentiality of young people and others using their parent’s or partner’s insurance
• High cost of deductibles and copays 
• Inability to wait – due to medical need, unpredictable work schedules, or limited access to child care – for paperwork to be processed, even if a patient qualifies for emergency Medicaid
• Income too high to qualify for public health insurance but not high enough to be able to afford an abortion

As other states continue to push abortion care entirely out of reach, and the right to legal abortion comes under unprecedented attack nationwide, New York City has set the national standard as a place where abortion is not only accessible, but affordable for all.

Working together, we have helped to directly support individuals seeking abortion care while leading the country on health equity and justice.