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The Northwest Abortion Access Fund (NWAAF) is an abortion fund serving Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. NWAAF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and a member of the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF), a membership organization of over 70 funds across the United States. At NWAAF, trained, compassionate volunteer advocates run the toll-free hotline and help people pay for their abortion care by sending funding directly to the clinic. NWAAF also helps people get to and from the clinic and make sure people traveling for care have a safe place to stay.

Founding and history


The Northwest Abortion Access Fund is the product of two abortion funds that merged together in 2017. Those two funds were the Community Abortion Information Resource (CAIR) Project, based in Washington, and the Network for Reproductive Options (NRO), based in Oregon.

The CAIR Project was founded in 1998 by Yong Chan Miller and a few other staff members at an independent abortion clinic in Seattle. The anecdote about how they came to found CAIR was that they had a patient come in and dump a pile of coins on the counter, and that is when they knew they had to act. The CAIR Project provided only abortion funding until 2016, when they agreed to take over a travel support program from NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, and began funding travel costs as well as abortion procedures. The CAIR Project started out serving callers in Washington state who needed financial help accessing abortion and grew to serve callers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.

The Network for Reproductive Options (NRO) was founded in 1995 when a clinic in Eugene closed and moved to Portland, and a handful of volunteers came together to provide financial support to folks needing abortions in Oregon. They grew their donor base into the largest donor base of any fund, with over 2,000 donors. For years, they practiced an ethic of calling every donor individually to thank them, and grew a very strong base from this practice. NRO started out serving callers in Oregon state who needed financial help accessing abortion and grew to serve callers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and occasionally Alaska.

Both funds operated old-school for many years, with a cell phone and binder of resources that was physically handed off from advocate to advocate during each shift change. For the CAIR Project, the cell phone and binder were passed off in a little backpack among Seattle-based hotline advocates. For NRO, the cell phone and binder were passed back and forth from Portland to Eugene, among hotline advocates based in each city. The hotline volunteers staffed one week shifts at CAIR & two week shifts at NRO. Vouchers promising abortion funding for a specific caller were faxed directly to abortion clinics and the success of the work depended on relationships & trust with clinics.

NRO was kept afloat at times by one very generous donor. When the ACA (Affordable Care Act) was implemented around 2014, more people were able to get on the Oregon Health Plan, which covers abortions. Until that point, NRO mainly funded clients in Oregon and occasionally a few clients in Idaho. During this time, there was also a generous unknown donor who paid for all abortions for patients going to Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette, which relieved financial costs for NRO and allowed more funds to go towards Idaho. Then, the call volume from Idaho increased, and it was clear Idaho needed some more direct attention from abortion funds.

During the 2010s, it became clear that NRO and CAIR were often working closely to support clients who were calling both hotlines. The two funds had deepened their relationship over time, and for some years, hotline advocates would have a copy of the other organization’s volunteer schedule, so they could know exactly who to call during their shift, to collaborate with on funding. Eventually it became clear that the status quo meant that the folks being served were having to make more calls and engage in more hustle to get their needs met. It was decided that it would be a more efficient process for both our callers and our organizations if CAIR and NRO merged into one abortion fund serving the four state area.

The Northwest Abortion Access Fund was born from that merger and currently serve Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, and are proud to have Board Members in all four states.

Mission

 * To fund abortion and break down barriers to abortion access for people in the Northwest.

Vision

 * We envision a world where people can easily access safe, legal abortion care with respect, dignity, and compassion.

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