Summary: Fund Abortion AND our local Community Bail Fund on June 10th, 2020 starting at 10am HERE
Women Have Options Ohio is Ohio’s statewide abortion fund but we’re also a community organization working towards a vision of reproductive justice, which was founded in Black liberation. This means we as an organization believe that not only is it a human right to control if, when, and how to create a family but we acknowledge and uplift the voices of Black and Brown leaders who tell us that reproductive justice is far more than choice. Reproductive Justice includes reckoning with the complicated and powerful forces that impact the decision to raise Black and Brown children in a society built on White Supremacy. In 2019 Women Have Options Ohio began our Reproductive Justice Grant program that allows us to provide financial support to allied organizations that are fulfilling other needs for our community at large. Last year we supported immigrant rights groups and on the ground mutual aid work at the US Southern border through sibling abortion funds.
In 2020 our Reproductive Justice Grant was given to Columbus Freedom Fund, the Central Ohio Bail fund, in addition, the board decided that WHO/O would answer their call for support and became the fiscal sponsor of the newly established community bail fund. The cash bail system is a part of the larger prison industrial complex, school to prison pipeline, police brutality, and criminalization of black and brown communities. We know, from listening to the voices of Black and Brown leaders, that these realities are issues parents of Black and Brown children face as a part of reproductive planning. The biased criminalization of Black and Brown individuals and their disproportionate rate of incarceration and bail amounts cannot be separated from reproductive justice.
Abortion funds and bail funds are intrinsically aligned, we both address the impact of unjust systems on our neighbors. We work to compassionately reduce the harm inflicted by them in the short term with direct financial support, while also advocating for systemic change. Our organizations put community care into practice under a system that unjustly punishes families and communities for being poor and disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color.
Our work is leveraging dollars for the liberation of all. These resources disrupt unjust systems so that we can re-envision and rebuild a more compassionate society. Will you join us in this work?
The Columbus Foundation’s Big Give starts at 10 am on June 10, 2020. During this 25-hour giving rally, we’re asking for your support, and in addition, your gift will be boosted by a $1.5M+ bonus pool of funds!
While we were unable to find a way to get them their own profile through the foundation’s Giving Store, we are splitting our giving store profile to give The Columbus Freedom Fund access to some of the incredible generosity that will be spread tomorrow in Central Ohio.
If you have the means, please consider a gift on June 10th starting at 10 am at this link: HERE and share with your networks.
** In the "Special Instructions," please indicate specifically where all or a portion of where you want your gift to go.
Thank you so much for your support and for standing in solidarity with those seeking abortion access and all those fighting for liberation!