With the Fall of ‘Roe,’ Abortion Rights Groups and Grant Makers Should Look Overseas for Inspiration

Abortion-rights activists, along with all Americans who support reproductive access, are mourning the loss of Roe v. Wade and scrambling to figure out what comes next. During this devastating time, I have a suggestion: Look beyond your nation’s shores for inspiration. Specifically, look to the global feminist movement, which for years has fought for and won abortion rights in countries worldwide, often in the face of fierce opposition.

To accomplish this, philanthropic and nonprofit leaders will need to let go of past practices that for years have created barriers to partnerships elsewhere in the world.

At Ipas, the global reproductive-justice network I lead, it was obvious to us years ago that Roe would fall. We work in countries where abortion is banned or severely restricted and wanted to share our experiences and resources with partners in the United States. We did an assessment to gauge interest and found that large national abortion-rights groups were too busy and, given their limited resources, couldn’t prioritize partnerships with us and international grassroots groups. State-level nonprofits, which saw the direct connection to their work, were eager to collaborate but even more strapped for funds.

We started fundraising but found limited interest. Just one U.S. donor supported the global exchange of ideas and resources we proposed, and another made a general-support grant that could be used for such work for just one year. Common refrains from grant makers went like this: “We’re only funding work in swing states” or “We only want to fund direct service” or “We don’t fund global groups,” and so on. The message seemed to be: “Stay in your lane even if we’re headed off a cliff.”

Ultimately, we used our unrestricted funds to support a modest program but were never able to offer state groups the support they needed to actively engage with us.

I look at the situation of abortion access in America today and think it doesn’t have to be this way. There are so many lessons beleaguered activists could glean from abortion-rights groups across the world that have fought to expand reproductive access — and are increasingly winning.

But cross-border collaboration won’t happen on abortion or any other social issues unless philanthropy breaks down its so-called silos and recognizes the value of this work. Separating issues such as economic inequality, racial justice, climate-change mitigation, and sexual and reproductive rights may make sense administratively, but that is not how social movements succeed and not how people experience their lives. The most pernicious silo, however, is the one that separates the United States from the rest of the world.

In the case of abortion access and rights, donors fund work either outside or inside the United States, but seldom both. And when they do fund the two, as some larger foundations do, they don’t support exchanges of ideas and strategies between different countries. That means that rather than learn from others, American activists are condemned to reinvent the wheel.

Persistence Matters

If there was ever a time to change these practices and break down barriers, it’s now. Abortion activists searching for where to go next will find inspiration in recent victories outside of the United States.

Mexico, for example, offers lessons in the importance of persistence in the fight for abortion rights. When activists there succeeded in legalizing abortion in Mexico City in 2007, they assumed that other states in the country would soon follow. Instead, anti-abortion advocates swung into action, forcing reproductive-rights groups to switch gears and combine service delivery with litigation strategies. The results paid off last September when the Supreme Court of Mexico declared that laws criminalizing abortion are unconstitutional, signaling that anyone who has the procedure anywhere in the country should not face prosecution.

Mexico has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, and the Roman Catholic Church has been a formidable opponent of abortion, yet change has happened because activists haven’t let up. As the focus of abortion-rights efforts in the United States switches to the state level, advocates could learn so much from Mexican feminist leaders about the importance of building community and elevating diverse voices to shift thinking about reproductive justice.

I recently met with North Carolina State Rep. Julie von Haefen, who was part of a delegation of U.S. state legislators who traveled to Mexico City to study how abortion is provided for free through the city’s public-health system. She told me she was “moved to tears” by the supportive network of care in Mexico City and has introduced a bill to protect abortion access in the North Carolina state legislature.

Support Activist Exchanges

Foundations should support similar exchanges between activists in places such as Latin America, where abortion-rights advocates have scored major wins in the last few years. In 2020, Argentina legalized abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and last month, abortion became legal in Colombia during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

How did these victories come about at the very moment American states were rolling back abortion rights in the lead-up to the Supreme Court ruling on Roe? The answer is a massive feminist movement known as the “green wave” — named for abortion-rights leaders in Argentina who more than a decade ago decided to don green, a color representing hope and health, at all demonstrations.

Beyond a visual statement, the green wave embraced clear and specific strategies for achieving abortion access. Groups such as Las Socorristas, a feminist network in Argentina, advised women on how to get safe abortions in clinics or by using pills, while also joining public cries to legalize abortion. Las Socorristas volunteers were among the millions of people across the country who took to the streets in 2018 in support of the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy bill that passed in 2020.

Why Funding Matters

The success of the green wave should be a lesson for grant makers in the United States about the importance of giving reproductive-rights groups the funding they need to both provide abortion care and advocate for policy change.

American philanthropy and nonprofit leaders deny themselves tremendous opportunities when they close themselves off to potential partners in faraway places. Several years ago, I went to Busia County in Kenya, where I participated in a meeting with community elders, pastors, young people, teachers, parents, grandparents, and county government leaders. They talked about teen pregnancy, poverty, violence, and unsafe abortions, which cause thousands of deaths in the country. And they discussed solutions, including forming a network of churches to champion reproductive-health care, including abortion.

I came back feeling that U.S. activists have a great deal to learn about the importance of bringing together unlikely coalitions to accomplish their goals — especially on deeply polarizing issues such as abortion rights.

It pains me to see the United States returning to a battle many thought was won 50 years ago. My daughter wept at the news. My colleagues are devastated. Groups like mine and our many partners throughout the world are once again reaching out to extend a hand. We know what needs to be done. Since 2000, we have helped at least a dozen countries expand legal grounds for abortion despite deeply entrenched and persistent opposition movements.

This time, we hope that U.S. grant makers will connect the dots between what’s happening in the United States and what happens overseas. We’re ready and willing to help.