What to Do When You Need to Do Something
When faced with the unfathomable injustice and cruelty of a broken political system that has stripped pregnant people across the country of their fundamental legal right to abortion care, it’s understandable to feel powerless and paralyzed. It’s hard to imagine making a difference as just one person, especially if you don’t have infinite financial means to donate to abortion funds, the medical skills to perform an abortion, or the legal or political know-how to fight back in court. The feeling of powerlessness, mixed with the overwhelming desire to do something, ANYTHING to help, might seem insurmountable, but I promise you: everyone can do something. Everyone single person reading this post has some skill, talent, interest, or experience that can contribute to the fight to keep abortion accessible. I know this because over the past two years, my friends and I have raised over $135,000 for abortion funds with crossword puzzles, of all things.
In 2021, as more states chipped away at abortion rights, my friends in the crossword puzzle community—a passionate and progressive group of people who make the puzzles you see in newspapers and magazines—came together around the idea that we needed to join the fight for reproductive justice. We didn’t know much about organizing, or fundraising, or abortion activism, but we knew how to make crossword puzzles. Together, we created a pack of crossword puzzles in support of the Baltimore Abortion Fund's annual Fund-a-Thon fundraiser, offering to email the pack to anyone who donated to BAF. We raised over $35,000 that spring by spreading the word about the pack on social media, and an additional $30,000 that fall when Texas passed SB8. In 2022, we created another pack of puzzles, raising over $70,000 for BAF and six other funds.
So if you feel like you need to do something, look at your hobbies. Look at your skills. Do you bake? Sing? Knit? Stream video games? Bike long distances? Any and all of these activities are potential fundraising opportunities (and I know – monetizing your hobbies and passion projects can feel weird, but monetizing them for reproductive justice feels fantastic). Find a local abortion fund on the NNAF website and fundraise for them. Don’t stress about picking the fund that “needs it the most” – they all need our support right now. And maybe you don’t have hobbies that translate into fundraisers. Are you good at web design? Graphic design? I promise you, there are abortion funds that can use those skills. But don’t call them – abortion funds are swamped right now trying to serve patients who need abortions. Email them, let them know you’re available to help, and see if you can think of another way to fundraise in the meantime.
Everyone can do something. You can do this.
Did you find this helpful? OARS is a volunteer-driven organization dedicated to providing accurate information and facilitating access to abortion care. Donate to support our work.
