February and March 2021
Hi TASC Supporters!
February and March have been busy for us. The heaviness of the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the heaviness of the continued mass shooting pandemic, and the heaviness of a relentless anti-choice legislation across the country and in Arizona has been tough to get through. Abortion needs persist, so our work continues regardless.
We are extending a virtual hug to everyone as we all do our best right now~
So, here’s our numbers from February and March. As you can see, we’ve had an increase in calls, and requests for funding. We are consistently going over our $1500 a month budget which is challenging, but we are unwilling to let someone not get their procedure due to lack of funds! Shout out to the Abortion Fund of Arizona for supporting patients in Tucson and across the state by helping fill the funding gaps so many are facing!
Transportation is always needed and we do our best to meet the need with a limited crew of drivers. We couldn’t answer the need for drivers within Phoenix without the help of our friend, Alejandra Pablos! Ale is an abortion doula, activist, speaker, and all around badass. She has been driving and supporting clients in Phoenix for a couple years now and we are so fortunate to have her in this work with us. Check out her website and support her as she fights her deportation case while advocating for decriminalization, abolition and reproductive justice!
One of the things we do at TASC is support minors who are seeking Judicial Bypass, or just looking for information about it. We put together a graphic to help give a rundown of the process. Check it out on our website and send it along to anyone who could use this information!
Next month we will be launching our annual Fund-a-Thon! This is where the vast majority of our funding comes from that sustains our work for the year. We wish we could gather in person and hootenanny together, but alas we are putting together a great virtual event. If you want to be an absolute star and lead a fundraising team for us- shoot us an email and we’ll get you set up! We are also looking for raffle donations if you have the hookup for something.
We are always looking for abortion and Reproductive Justice related media to consume so let us know if you see anything we should check out! We’ve been loving the podcasts Ordinary Equality and Access: A Podcast about Abortion.
Upcoming: Be on the lookout for a legislation update, info about our new Peer Support Space, and our very exciting new logo and branding!
To Support our work you can donate here: https://www.abortionintucson.org/contact or
Venmo @tascdoulas or Paypal abortionintucson@gmail.com
Hang in there friends,
Tucson Abortion Support Collective
January 2021
Hello from the Tucson Abortion Support Collective!
We are kicking off 2021 with our very first monthly update to keep you all informed on what’s going on with abortion access in Tucson, the legal abortion landscape in Arizona, and transparency about what our work looks like by the numbers.
Here’s what we have been up to for January:
Number of callers: 13 callers
Pledges paid out for abortion care: $1440
Total abortions (partially funded): 5
Average pledge per client: $288.
Transportation assistant provided: 5 clients within Tucson; 5 clients between Tucson and Phoenix.
Emergency contraception distributed: 4
And here’s the breakdown of our work in 2020.
A few updates about our work in the last few months and what’s happening right now:
Everyone’s lives and work have changed during the pandemic, and TASC is no different. Providing practical support like transportation has been a particular challenge, but we were quick to adopt some new safety protocols and have continued to provide people with rides to/from abortion appointments.
In previous years, a huge amount of abortion funding has come from a single national organization. The organization has implemented major cuts in 2021, and we are the feeling the effect here in Arizona (as are folks around the country). The already huge need for financial support for abortion care is even larger now, and we are engaging in conversations with partner organizations like the Abortion Fund of Arizona about how to best use and share resources.
We’ve seen a decrease in appointment availability at the Planned Parenthood in Tucson, with a lot of clients needed to head up to Phoenix for care. This presents an extra layer of difficulty with transportation, time off work, childcare etc. Luckily, Tucson now has another abortion provider, so we hope that people will start to have easier times scheduling appointments at both clinics. See below for contact information for the new clinic.
There is also a big round of anti-choice legislature coming out of Arizona Republicans. We are in weekly conversations with Representatives and other stakeholders to track these bills and speak out against them. Stay tuned for updates!
We recently joined the newly formed Arizona Reproductive Justice Coalition, which seeks to advance policies rooted in RJ values. Look out for our policy agenda and press release soon!
Choices Women’s Center (Formerly Tucson Women’s Center)
5240 E. Knight #112
(520) 210-8300 / (808) 480-PILL
appointment@TucsonChoices.com
Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 8-4, Friday 8 - 12 (Noon)
currently providing medication abortion only, up to 10 weeks.
Thanks for your support- TASC
Our Work and COVID-19
Like you, we’re working in a new environment and under unprecedented circumstances. Out of an abundance of caution and care for our community, we’re canceling the Fund-a-thon dance party we were planning to hold this spring. We would have loved to gather and dance with you! Our annual fund-a-thon event is our main fundraiser of the year -- for two years in a row we held a board game-a-thon that raised thousands of dollars toward our work. This year we will be conducting an online-only fundraiser, and we hope we will have your support.
The reality is that the people who contact TASC are going to need more financial support than ever. The same people losing their jobs and walking into empty grocery stores are faced with even harder decisions to figure out how get to the abortion they want and need. We will continue to raise and distribute money for abortion access, because funding abortion is mutual aid. We will also continue our practical support work to help people find transportation to and from appointments, deliver free pregnancy tests and emergency contraception, as well as our broader work of informational and emotional support. For our practical support work in particular, this means creating some new protocols that will help keep our doulas and our clients safe when giving rides and delivering supplies, and we are working swiftly to make these changes in how we work.
People will be experiencing more barriers to abortion access than ever before. We also have our eye on how abortion access could dwindle in the face of clinic workers and community health providers being on the front lines of a pandemic, with a higher risk of getting sick, or faced with the necessity of needing to close at this time. People will have more expensive abortions if they need extra time to gather financial and logistical support, and they will likely need to travel farther to get their abortions and experience travel barriers we’ve never before faced. People contacting us are more likely to not have paid sick time off. They’re already parenting, and may have the new expense of finding childcare or taking time off work to be with their children as their schools close. Abortion needs rise in the face of crisis, and unfortunately they do not pause as we figure out how to react as a society.
We do know your resources may be directed to your personal financial situation at this tenuous time. You may also be sending what you have to other mutual aid and community care organizations locally. We understand if your priorities and capacity may have shifted from the beginning of this campaign, and we are still grateful to be in community with you, no matter what you have to offer at this moment. Click here to visit our online fundraising page.
We commit to being in contact with you to provide those details as they develop. We’ll need each other more than ever in the upcoming months. You make us more hopeful; we’re proud to be in community with you.
Proposition 205 - Tucson Families Free and Together
The Tucson Abortion Support Collective (TASC) is proud to support the Tucson Families Free and Together Initiative. Our collective came together in 2017 to provide informational, logistical, physical, and emotional support to people seeking abortion care in Southern Arizona. In addition to this direct support, we strive to support organizations and efforts that lift up marginalized members of our community, building intersectional movements that make southern Arizona a safer place for everyone.
Our work is grounded within the framework of reproductive justice. Reproductive justice looks beyond legal access to abortion to the social, economic, and political intersections that impact access to abortion and reproductive healthcare. Reproductive justice includes looking at issue like racism and economic inequality that not only keep people from accessing abortion, but impact their ability to have a child if they choose and raise their children in safety. Justice and safety for immigrants living in our community is essential for people to pursue and obtain the reproductive healthcare they need and deserve, including access to birth control, prenatal care, and abortion. In addition, the right to keep one’s family together, free of the brutal separation caused by detention and deportation, is a reproductive justice issue.
The Tucson Families Free and Together initiative also creates protections for women and children who have experienced domestic violence and sexual assault.
We support keeping families together, we support the free movement of all people seek work, love, healthcare, and safety. We decry complicity and cooperation between our local law enforcement and ICE. The Tucson Families Free and Together Initiative would codify into law our passionate support of some of the most targeted people in our community, and we stand firmly behind it.
For more information go to: https://www.familiesfreeandtogether.org/
El Colectivo de Apoyo al Aborto de Tucsón (TASC, por sus siglas en inglés) se enorgullece en apoyar la Iniciativa de Familias Juntas y Libres de Tucson. Nuestro colectivo se formó en el 2017 para brindar apoyo informativo, logístico, físico y emocional a las personas que buscan servicios de aborto en el sur de Arizona. Además de este apoyo directo, nos esforzamos por apoyar a las organizaciones y los esfuerzos que elevan a los miembros marginados de nuestra comunidad, construyendo movimientos intersectoriales que hacen del sur de Arizona un lugar más seguro para todos.
Nuestro trabajo se basa en el marco de la justicia reproductiva. La justicia reproductiva va más allá del acceso legal al aborto, a las intersecciones sociales, económicas y políticas que impactan el acceso al aborto y la atención médica reproductiva. La justicia reproductiva incluye considerar temas como el racismo y la desigualdad económica que no solo impiden que las personas accedan al aborto, sino que también afectan su capacidad para tener un hijo, si así eligen, y criar a sus hijos en condiciones de seguridad. La justicia y la seguridad para los inmigrantes que viven en nuestra comunidad son esenciales para que las personas puedan obtener la atención de salud reproductiva que necesitan y merecen, incluido el acceso al control de la natalidad, la atención prenatal y el aborto. Además, el derecho a mantener unida a la familia, libre de la brutal separación causada por la detención y la deportación, es un problema de justicia reproductiva. Apoyamos mantener a las familias juntas, apoyamos la libre circulación de todas las personas para buscar trabajo, amor, atención médica y seguridad. Denunciamos la complicidad y la cooperación entre nuestra policía local y el ICE.
La Iniciativa de Familias Juntas y Libres de Tucson codificaría en ley nuestro apoyo apasionado de algunas de las personas más específicas de nuestra comunidad, y nos mantenemos firmes detrás de ello.
#HandsOfNope - Help Protect Abortion Access in Tucson
TASC community,
In addition to providing direct support to people seeking abortion care, TASC is dedicated to protecting abortion access in our community, and we need your help.
If you’ve ever been to the only medical facility that provides abortion care in Southern Arizona (Formerly Tucson Women’s center, recently renamed the Planned Parenthood Southern AZ Regional Health Center) you’ve probably seen the anti-choice protesters on the sidewalk outside. Maybe they’ve asked to talk to you or given you a gift bag. Maybe they weren’t what you expected - they don’t hold up giant photos like the protestors at other clinics, or yell or threaten patients. These folks are part of a growing trend in the anti-choice community, they call themselves “sidewalk advocates” and their sole mission is to divert people from the clinic so they can end abortion. Here in Tucson they’re affiliated with Hands of Hope, a Crisis Pregnancy Center.
Hands of Hope recently purchased a building in the same medical plaza as Planned Parenthood, just around the corner. Fake Clinics like Hands of Hope leverage their proximity to real clinics to gain access to people seeking medical care from a licensed facility, whom they lure inside in order to coerce them into continuing a pregnancy. This fake clinic and it’s sidewalk advocates, Pro Love Tucson, are part of an anti-choice movement that believes their presence outside of a clinic increases cancellation rates, and causes clinics to close their doors, leading to the end of abortion. It’s time to come together as a community to expose Hands of Hope and safeguard a path for people seeking reproductive care.
Following the lead of organizers at #ExposeFakeClinics, we’re launching an online action to expose Hands of Hope.
You can help by leaving a review for Hands of Hope on Yelp, Google, or Facebook. Post on social media using the hashtag #HandsOfNope
Before leaving a review, take a few minutes to browse one or two of these links: their website, their fundraising page, their facebook, their mission statement (page 2) and information about the sidewalk advocates they partner with, Pro Love Tucson. Remember that we want reviews to be honest, truthful, and clear. Write about something you read on their website that was contradictory or misleading. Write about what they told you on the phone when you called to ask about access to abortion. Write about what you know about CPC’s in general. Write about what you know to be true. If you feel comfortable sharing, include personal experiences with Hands of Hope or the protesters outside the clinic. Pregnant people looking for actual reproductive care come across Hands of Hope every day, and these reviews are for them.
Need a few ideas of what to say? Here are some things to think about from #exposefakeclinics
-Do they provide “limited ultrasound”? This means it’s conducted by an unlicensed technician and the state doesn’t recognize it. Yikes. Or do they offer “laboratory rated urine pregnancy tests”? Um, that describes all pregnancy tests. (Hands of Hope offers limited ultrasounds)
-Do they offer opinions on sex before marriage, even if thinly veiled? (Hands of Hope mentions “sexual brokenness” and “teaching sexual integrity” immediately on their website and Pro Love hands out information on Natural Family Planning in lieu of contraception)
-When describing abortion, do they mention any of the following [medically disproven!] “risks”: breast cancer / medical complications / mental health problems / future infertility / fetal pain / sexual dysfunction / other risks to fetus / post abortion stress syndrome? (Pro Love Tucson hands out information about “abortion pill reversal” which is not scientifically proven and is a dangerous myth to spread, and Hands of Hope has a heavy emphasis on mental health and emotional struggles after abortion)
We are so grateful to be in community with you all!
#HandsOfNope
TASC
Town Hall Summer 2018
TASC was represented at Town Hall Summer 2018 this past Saturday at the YWCA. We were honored to share space and show solidarity with so many people and organizations working to make our local community inclusive, just, and humane.
Tabling provides a great opportunity to reach out to community members: increasing our visibility is key to making sure everyone who needs our services knows how to access them.
Thank you, Tucson, for showing up, rising, and organizing!
