National Network of Abortion Funds
The National Network of Abortion Funds is an umbrella organization that supports organizations that provide financial assistance to women seeking abortions. The network provides its member partners with training, logistical support, and other resources. 1 As of late 2019, the network claimed 76 abortion funds as part of its network. 2
Contents
History and Mission
The National Network of Abortion Funds was created in 1993 by the merger of 22 abortion funding groups. Until 2003, it was housed for free by Hampshire College in Massachusetts. In 1998, it began receiving grants from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 3
The network’s main mission is to support its members’ technical, logistical, and training needs. 1 Its members are primarily in the United States, with one member in Mexico and at least one member that engages in abortion promotion internationally. 4
The network supports left-of-center policy positions. They include repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which for 40 years was a bipartisan amendment to federal health care spending to restrict abortion funding; a $15-per-hour minimum wage; repeal of parental notification laws and judicial bypass measures that require a judge’s approval for minors to have abortions without parental consent or notification; and elimination of public funding to pro-life pregnancy resource centers. 5
The network claims that these measures, if enacted, would eliminate as many barriers as possible for low-income women seeking abortions. The network also views its role as connecting abortion access to other left-of-center policy priorities relating to gender and immigration. 6
The Network leads an annual National Abortion Access Bowl-a-thon to raise money for itself and its members. 7
Cultural Change Initiatives
The National Network of Abortion Funds is also involved in a number of cultural change initiatives. “The beauty and power of abortion love” was launched in 2020 as a partnership with the left-of-center advocacy group Forward Together. 8 The network views this initiative as a tool to show love to women by supporting the decision to have an abortion. Opposing abortion, according to the initiative’s main page, shows “stigma,” not love. 9
“We Testify” is an initiative which aims to tell the stories of women who have had abortions. 10 Short video testimonies are intended to broaden the scope of who is seen as an “expert” on abortion, as well as accomplish the network’s secondary goal of creating a culture where left-of-center views on race, sex, and gender prevail. 11
“Youth Testify” is a partnership of several groups, including the network, which trains girls and women aged 17-25 to advocate for abortion. Youth Testify leader H.K. Gray testified to Congress in June 2019 that she had a child at 16 years old and wanted an abortion at age 17. Gray told Congress that abortion should be covered by insurance and that parental notification laws interfere with youths’ right to have an abortion. 12
The network also releases statements about various issues. It declared the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile to be part of “relentless, racist violence,” and in the same statement said that “police brutality” is an affront to bodily autonomy. 13
The network released a statement in conjunction with the National Partnership for Women and Families which laid out how women seeking abortion can use sick days during visits to an abortionist. 14 The network praised the U.S. Supreme Court for overturning Texas’ abortion center standards in 2016, but said in the statement that societal equality for the poor who seek abortions will not exist “until we have full insurance coverage for abortion.” 15
Controversies
Willie Parker was a late-term abortionist who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman who worked in the abortion industry. 16 In light of the controversy, the National Network of Abortion Funds released a statement confirming its combining of a fund named for Parker and one named for murdered abortionist George Tiller into a single fund. Like many other abortion groups, the network stood behind Parker’s accuser. 17
One of the National Network of Abortion Funds’ members is the international abortion group Women on Web. 18 This group specializes in providing abortion-inducing drugs in nations that restrict abortion. In 2016, Women on Web published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine that claimed that women in nations affected by the Zika Virus were having more abortions because of the virus’ spread. However, the leader of a group of pro-life obstetricians said the Women on Web study was flawed because it was not peer-reviewed and relied solely on Women on Web’s internal reporting. 19
2022 Open Letter to President Biden
In 2022, the National Network of Abortion Funds signed an open letter to President Joe Biden thanking him for his ongoing intervention in state abortion policies and urged him to even more intensive action to keep abortion legal and expand access. 20
Leadership
Yamani Hernandez was the National Network of Abortion Funds’ executive director from 2015 until she departed the group in January 2022. Prior to that, she was in leadership in several abortion advocacy groups, with a special focus on abortion access for adolescents. 21 Hernandez has yet to be replaced as of May 2022. 22
The network has two board co-chairs, Asha Dane’el and Katherine McGuiness. 23
Asha Dane’el is a board member for the Texas-based abortion advocacy group Lilith Fund. She has also worked in local and state government on race, trauma, and health care issues. 24
Katherine McGuiness is former board president of the Northwest Abortion Access Fund with a career in left-leaning social change. 25
Kamyon Conner is vice-chair of the network and works for two Texas-based sex advocacy organizations. She is executive director of Texas Equal Access Fund, which provides money to women for abortions as part of the National Network of Abortion Funds. She is also vice president of PRIDENTON, which among other LGBT advocacy efforts hosts a Pride event each year. 26
Financials
The National Network of Abortion Funds‘ budget in 2019 was more than $13.1 million, with nearly $9.5 million in expenses. 27
The group raised over $500,000 from 18,000 donors in May 2019 after Alabama and Georgia enacted pro-life laws with limited exceptions. The number of donors exceeded the number for all of 2018, according to Hernandez. The group regularly uses news events to raise money, such as former President Donald Trump’s election and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings. 28
Financial Statistics
Total Assets
Total Revenue
Total Expenses
| Year | Total Assets | Total Revenue | Total Expenses | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $44,786,889 | $31,706,498 | $44,512,185 | View |
| 2024 | $65,430,567 | $24,650,088 | $30,797,834 | |
| 2023 | $67,774,582 | $49,161,936 | $32,868,169 | View |
| 2022 | $47,692,321 | $53,841,002 | $24,825,812 | View |
| 2021 | $14,416,205 | $13,510,160 | $13,339,787 | View |
| 2020 | $13,628,216 | $13,147,280 | $9,425,224 | View |
| 2019 | $9,940,705 | $10,993,391 | $6,868,803 | View |
Prior year filings: 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011
Revenue Detail
Expenses Detail
Employee Compensation
- Number of Employees: 96
Highest Earning Employees
Grant Activity
All-time grants received statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $23,580,328
- Number of Grants: 405
- Number of Funders: 236
Selection of highest value grants received from the last seven years:
All-time grants given statistics from Candid dataset:
- Total Grant Value: $31,780,206
- Number of Grants: 231
- Number of Recipients: 98
Selection of highest value grants given from the last seven years: