The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation is a proud supporter of the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF). For the past three years, the PMAFF has supported CAF’s work to bolster their efforts to support more people in need of abortion care by expanding their direct abortion assistance program. Please read on to learn more about the important work of CAF.
The Chicago Abortion Fund is committed to providing support and resources to people seeking abortion care across Illinois, the Midwest, and beyond. CAF supports every single caller we reach on our hotline by offering individualized case management and complete wrap-around support for their needs, including funding for procedures, practical and logistical support, and emotional support. Our staff and volunteer case managers are experts in navigating onerous restrictions and barriers to abortion care across the Midwest, informed by conversations with thousands of CAF callers and, often, their own experiences obtaining care.
In 2022, CAF spent over $1,250,000 on abortion care and related wrap-around support services. Post-Dobbs vs Jackson Whole Women’s Health, wrap-aroundexpenses increased by over ten times. CAF has maintained our commitment to supporting every single caller in the face of rising call numbers and expenses. We
have built and sustained relationships with tens of sibling abortion funds and with over 70 clinics, hospitals, and telehealth providers across the region, and post-Dobbs, the country, and dozens of sibling abortion funds nationwide. This ensures that CAF’s callers can seek care when and where it feels right for them, regardless of where they are from. CAF has no eligibility or residential requirements to receive support.
In 2022, the organization completed the Shaping Change Study, the flagship study of our new WEsearch Department, and created a zine that synthesizes interviews with 99 of our callers on the process of funding their abortion, their feelings about it after, and their wishes for policy priorities in the reproductive health, rights, and justice fields. CAF has a robust research portfolio, unique among abortion funds. The WEsearch Department has also been critical to building our infrastructure, and this year, we upgraded our database, allowing staff and volunteers to streamline their case management processes and have access to real-time data, enabling us to make data-driven decisions to improve services.
CAF worked on multiple city, state, and federal efforts to expand and protect abortion access in 2022, including the Reproductive Health Travel Fund Act, a federal bill that aims to provide grant assistance to those who travel to receive reproductive health care, the Bodily Autonomy Sanctuary Ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council in September ‘22, and the Patient and Provider Protection Act, signed into law by Illinois’ Governor Pritzker in January ‘23. We led thousands of abortion access supporters in two coalition-based mass mobilizations, as well as organized the Families for Abortion Access March, a collaboration with Kido to engage over 2,000 parents, children, and community members on Chicago’s South Side on July 4th.
CAF recently launched a new iteration of our monthly Post-Abortion Community Circles, providing a safe space for people who have had abortions to feel at home
and comfortable talking through their experiences with abortion care. Community Circles 2.0 is led by program participants, and features monthly topics led by guest facilitators.
To learn more about the Chicago Abortion Fund’s work, please visit their website.
