“It fills my cup to be involved with these things, involved in the community, involved in something that benefits something other than me.” Motivation and mobilization experiences of abortion fund volunteers in the United States. Public
Ouellette, Lexi (Spring 2023)
Abstract
Abortion funds are grassroots community-based organizations in the U.S. that are key actors in the reproductive justice movement. The work of abortion funds ensures that people have support as they navigate and access abortion services in the face of increasing restrictions and barriers. While abortion funds have been active in the U.S. for nearly half a decade, the post Roe v. Wade abortion access needs, coupled with the increased visibility of their work, presents a new context for funding abortion.
Given the vital role abortion funds play in protecting access to abortion, research with abortion funds is important. Few studies focus on the abortion fund as an organization within the community, and less work examines the volunteers who support abortion funds. Thus, abortion fund volunteer motivations and experiences are largely unknown. Exploring abortion fund volunteer motivations may provide insight into how abortion funds create sustainable networks of mobilized volunteers to support access to abortion.
Through semi-structured in-depth interviews with current abortion fund volunteers, this study explored volunteer roles and experiences, volunteer communities, and volunteer perceptions of the impact of volunteering with an abortion fund. This study developed an understanding of how abortion funds function using a mutual aid organization framework. Findings showed that people were motivated to volunteer based on personal, professional, and community experiences with abortion and reproductive rights, and were mobilized to volunteer with abortion funds after key events changed their perception of threats to abortion access. In addition, the study developed a multi-level understanding of volunteer peer communities within abortion funds, of community connections between abortion funds, and of the broader solidarity networks in which abortion funds participate. Study findings also supported recommendations for how abortion funds can support volunteers, and for how the public health field can uplift and amplify the work of abortion funds volunteers.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Study Purpose 1
Context 1
Problem Statement 1
Purpose 2
Chapter 2: Comprehensive Review of the Literature 4
Abortion in the United States 4
United States abortion policy 5
A brief explanation of “Mutual aid”: Theory, praxis, and history 7
Historic examples of mutual aid 9
Spade’s definition of mutual aid 11
Contemporary Mutual Aid Groups in the Face of Disaster 13
Abortion funds 14
Reproductive justice as a foundation for abortion funds 15
Volunteering with abortion funds 18
Abortion fund volunteer roles 19
Gaps in understanding of abortion fund volunteer motivations 20
Chapter 3: Project Content 24
Study methods 24
Population and sample 24
Ethical considerations 25
Methodological limitations 28
Results 28
Volunteer role 28
Motivations for volunteering with an abortion fund 30
Community as defined and experienced by abortion fund volunteers 36
Community context of abortion funds 38
Community solidarity within regions 39
Impact of volunteering on abortion fund volunteers 40
Chapter 4: Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion 45
Discussion 45
Volunteers learn about threats to abortion access through personal and professional experiences. 45
Volunteers are mobilized by key events that change their perception of threats to abortion access. 48
Abortion fund volunteers prioritize work that is participatory and collective 50
Volunteers practice solidarity and build volunteer networks 52
Limitations 54
Strengths 55
Public health and policy implications 56
Community-based public health efforts to fund abortion 56
Policy implications for funding abortion 58
The role of public health in funding abortion 59
Conclusion 60
References 62
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