WMF makes an impact on women and girls in our own community.
These are the stories of just a few of the women that WMF has helped this past year. Sometimes all that women need is $50. What may seem like a relatively small amount of money can truly make all the difference for women who have none.
If a woman has been raped, or if her life is at risk, she may be entitled to have her Medical Assistance pay for her procedure. WMF can help women who choose to pursue Medicaid funding for their abortion.
As the stories show, WMF helps women and teens from every walk of life. Their ages range from young adolescents to women nearing menopause. Some teens have their family’s support; others receive a judicial bypass. Some women are married; others are not. Most of the women we help already have children. Some work, some are disabled and some are students. They are white, African-American and Latina. Some have the support of their male partners, others are alone. Some live with domestic violence, some with HIV.
Seventeen-year-old YN had just heard news that she had received an athletic scholarship to University of Pennsylvania when she discovered that she was pregnant. When YN spoke to her mother about the option of abortion, the mother refused to give YN the consent she needed to get an abortion as a minor in the state of Pennsylvania. While YN was able to come up with $200 that she had in her savings, she still faced a gap of $195, which WMF covered. YN terminated her pregnancy in New Jersey.
A young married woman with a five-year-old child, LR was excited to learn she was pregnant. Then her husband was in a severe car crash that left him paralyzed from the neck down. In order to best care for her husband and herself, LR made the decision that this was not the right time for another child. Since LR’s husband was the sole earner in the family, and LR had been a stay-at-home mom, it was impossible for LR and her husband to get together the total cost of the procedure. After LR and her husband were able to raise $200, WMF provided the $80 needed to close LR’s gap.
RA was attending college full-time until her three-year-old suffered a stroke. She than was forced to drop out of school to care for her now disabled daughter. Soon after, She and her boyfriend separated, and then RA learned she was pregnant. She borrowed $200 from her family and WMF was able to fill the remaining gap with $115 for her abortion.
RM, a young woman with two daughters, was 5 months pregnant when an ultrasound showed that the fetus had a neurologic abnormality, which their doctor advised would result in severe brain damage. RM decided not to carry her pregnancy to term. RM and her family ultimately raised $1580, and WMF contributed $200 to enable her to terminate her pregnancy.
GR is an eighteen-year-old college freshman who lives with her mother and grandmother. She attends school full time but had just lost her work-study job when she called our help line. Although enrolled in Medicaid, she is prohibited from using this coverage to pay for her abortion. GR raised some money by selling back her textbooks. WMF assisted her with $132 to cover the balance of her procedure cost.
WS is the young mother of two small children. She supports her family on her monthly Social Security check of $670. She was sexually assaulted by her cousin and became pregnant from the rape. When he threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it, she was too fearful to turn to family members for help paying for her abortion. She managed to set aside some money from her monthly benefit check and $122 from WMF filled the remaining gap.
RK is a 15-year-old high school sophomore who lives with her father and older sister. When she became pregnant and decided to have an abortion, she contacted her boyfriend for support. He told her that he did not believe in abortion and refused to contribute to the cost of the procedure. Afraid of her father’s reaction, she could not turn to him for help. Instead, she used money that she had received as a Christmas gift and $10 that her sister loaned her. WMF closed the remaining gap with $135.
PT is the young mother of a toddler who receives $158 per month in welfare to supplement her monthly wages of $140. Unable to afford her own place, she pays $150 each month to rent a room from a friend. Although she uses Medicaid for her other health care needs, she is prohibited from using it for an abortion. She struggled to set aside $200 toward the cost of her abortion, but her drug-addicted sister stole the money from her purse. After the theft, she turned to her mother and friends to borrow money, and WMF closed the gap with a $96.
When seventeen-year-old BR’s mother fell behind in the rent, the landlord evicted BR and her family from their apartment. She, her mother, and her 3 siblings moved into a motel room while her mother tried to come up with enough money for alternative housing. BR’s boyfriend stopped returning her calls when she told him that she was pregnant. She is contributing her family’s savings of $260 toward her abortion. WMF closed her gap with $210.