New York Abortion Access Fund

The New York Abortion Access Fund supports anyone who is unable to pay fully for an abortion and is living in or traveling to New York State by providing financial assistance and connections to other resources.

NYAAF provides funding directly to clinics on behalf of the people we serve. When a clinic we work with sees a patient who needs assistance, NYAAF is one of the potential funding sources to which they turn. The clinic then bills us for the amount we commit to covering.

Why does New York State, a state where people can get public health insurance coverage for abortion services, need an abortion fund?

Shouting protestors are not the only barrier to abortion access. Abortion is prohibitively expensive for many people with the average cost ranging from $523 at 10 weeks, to $3000 at 24 weeks gestation. Even in New York and the 16 other states that provide Medicaid coverage for abortion, thousands of low-income people fall between the cracks. Many people may be too poor to pay for abortion procedures, but they are uninsured and not poor enough to obtain public health insurance coverage, such as Medicaid.

In addition to helping people from New York, NYAAF also assists people from out of state who need help covering the costs of their procedures in New York. New York City is a major destination for many people across the country seeking abortions for a number of reasons. Some people find that abortion is more affordable in NYC than in their home states, others come from areas where there are no abortion providers at all, and others come because they may be able to have procedures done in later stages of pregnancy.

NYAAF has made grants to people from New York and from many other states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia, and Maryland. We have also helped people from as far away as Texas, Utah, and Bermuda to access safe legal abortion in New York.

The need for abortion funding is so great that there are more than 100 abortion funds across the country. For more information on funds outside of New York, visitwww.nnaf.org.