The last few months have truly been eye-opening for me and our mission.
Specifically, two experiences come to mind: first, my connection with a Texas mom, Maria, who chose life despite being paid thousands of dollars to travel to D.C. for a 26-week abortion. Then, I had a tragic interaction with a woman who was paid to travel to Colorado for a chemical abortion and was left in pain, bleeding all the way home, and was eventually hospitalized. These similar circumstances with drastically different results cemented some stark realizations for me:
Fully funded, elective, late-term abortion exists in America.
When we released a preview of Maria’s story a few weeks ago on social media, Tik Tok went nuts. Abortion supporters claimed that we were lying about Maria’s ability to secure a fully funded, ELECTIVE, late-term abortion. But the truth is the U.S. is on par with a handful of countries in the world – like China – who allow full-term abortions. Multiple states in the U.S. allow for abortion until birth, and approximately 200,000 women are traveling to obtain abortions every year.
Abortion supporters are essentially paying women to have abortions.
One abortion fund — The Brigid Alliance — estimates that it pays each woman who is seeking abortion about $2,300 to cover travel, her procedure, and other costs. In Maria’s case, we saw firsthand they were willing to pay a lot more to kill one child. Indeed, she was paid about $2,000 before she ever got to her first abortion appointment, and ultimately was offered almost 5x that amount if she killed her child.
Abortion funds are relentlessly working to kill babies.
The one thing that blew my mind was that Maria was assigned an abortion “guide” who called her every day – then every hour – when she was headed to her abortion appointment. Why would someone do that? You could say that she cared. Maybe that’s true to an extent. But to call every single hour with promises to drop more money into her account … I mean, wow — talk about a hard sell.
Women feel pressured to abort, even if they change their mind.
These women are facing extraordinary pressure to follow through with the abortion, especially after abortion funds have paid for them to travel, sometimes thousands of miles. Is this choice? If abortion supporters are really about choice, what about funding her trip home if she changes her mind?
On the contrary, when Maria changed her mind, the abortion fund would not stop harassing her (to the point that she had to block their number), playing on her anxieties and telling her not to trust anyone (like us) who were promising to be there for her and her preborn child. That’s not love. That’s coercion.
In the case of the woman in Colorado, after she chose abortion, she was left to travel home on an hours-long bus ride, bleeding, without any pain medication, and eventually had to seek care TWICE at a local hospital. That’s not love. That’s abandonment.
The critical difference between Maria and the woman I met in Colorado is one thing — the ability to convince her that we can immediately address her crisis needs …whether her lights are about to be turned off, her family is going hungry, she’s in fear of domestic violence, or she just needs a way to get home if she changes her mind.
In the case of Maria, the local community was able to step into the gap with that immediate assistance.
With your help, we can replicate that victory with “Maria’s Fund,” the nation’s first pro-life, rapid-response fund to counter abortion funds.
YOU are the difference in these stories. Please help us help them.
Learn more about how you can partner in our life-saving mission at sidewalkadvocates.org/getinvolved.