Centering Care: Locating Abortion Funds as Movement Actors

• In Event: 20861 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 10: Organizations, Tactics, and Strategies

Abstract

At first glance, abortion funds (organizations that help patients overcome barriers to abortion care) seem like standard non-profit agencies focused on providing services that individuals need but are unable to pay for. However, because the work they do is socially and politically contested, abortion funds also operate as social movement organizations, engaging in political education and advocacy work in order to sustain themselves and move forward their ultimate goals. In this analysis, I examine the role abortion funds play in the movement space, using data from interviews with 22 abortion fund leaders and bringing in Situational Analysis mapping. I find that while some fund leaders feel hesitant or resentful of it, most acknowledge that funds do sit within a social movement and that fund work – to some extent – is social movement work. Some leaders exclusively view movement building and advocacy work as social movement work, considering the community care work funds primarily focus on as separate. However, other leaders view funding abortion as an act of both radical protest and community care. This centering of care allows us to understand abortion funds as a bridge space within the movement and to rethink common social movements theories, which tend to center power struggles rather than community care. Instead, I argue that abortion funds provide a lens to understand care work as the heart of movement work and care, itself, as a motivation for movement mobilization, a tactic used by movement actors, and a sign of movement success.

Author

• Erin Rebecca Johnson, Indiana University - Bloomington