An abortion fund provider unveiled a rebrand and offered an open house in Las Cruces to celebrate the organization’s new name, mission and values.
Faith Roots Reproductive Action is the new name of the abortion fund provider previously known as the New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Joan Lamunyon Sanford, executive director of FRRA, said one of the primary reasons to change the organization’s name was because of the cognitive dissonance it caused.
“Mostly it was confusing,” Lamunyon Sanford said. “We found it was confusing and even frightening to many of our abortion clinic callers.”
FRRA offers practical support to individuals coming from out of state to seek an abortion in New Mexico. The nonprofit can help with food and travel, including plane or bus tickets or gas money. They can also help with lodging while the patient is in New Mexico. This past winter, FRRA began offering childcare stipends for parents as part of the assistance available to individuals seeking abortion.
“Nobody should have to leave their communities to get healthcare but if they do, we want to make that as simple as possible,” Lamunyon Sanford said.
Lamunyon Sanford, who has spoken of being called to help individuals who need an abortion, said the name Faith Roots feels inclusive to all religions, whether part of the Abrahamic traditions or other world religions.
“We know organized religion has caused a lot of people a lot of trauma. It brings good and bad and so Faith Roots is a more interfaith label for us and more inclusive,” she said.
During the open house, visitors mingled around the new office space. Catherine Massey, a Las Cruces resident, said she came to the open house to show support. She compared a lack of reproductive freedom to involuntary incarceration.
“Bodily autonomy is the most essential human right. Nothing else is more important to have for all people,” she said.
Elvira Masson, also a Las Cruces resident who came to the open house, said she has been volunteering for FRRA for two years and she said it was important that an abortion fund provider be local to Las Cruces.
“So many are driving in from Texas. They show up at 8 a.m. after driving all night. It’s a big deal. No one makes this decision lightly,” she said.
Ophra Leyser-Whalen, a volunteer from El Paso, said she came to the open house because she wanted to show that “people still care.”
“Since Dobbs, interest in abortion has faded. It’s not the soup d’jour. It’s important to maintain interest,” she said.
Leyser-Whalen said having FRRA in Las Cruces is important because there are now several clinics in the city and individuals seeking an abortion need practical support.
Monica Giron, case manager for FRRA, said 99 percent of abortion patients they provide with practical support are coming from Texas.
“Most want to drive,” she said.
She said that from the patients’ perspective, the mood is “pretty stressed.” She said one question from Texas callers FRRA hears constantly is why abortion medication can’t be mailed to them.
“We have to say it’s illegal [in Texas],” Giron said.
As part of the rebranding, FRRA has reorganized its internal policies and training, in part, to ensure that volunteers and staff hold compassion and safety for individuals seeking an abortion.
Lamunyon Stanford told NM Political Report that the amount of callers FRRA receives continues to increase but not at the same volume as when Texas’ six-week gestational ban on abortion went into effect in September of 2021.
“We would like to see [the number of callers] increase. We know there are a significant number of people in Texas and other states who are either led to believe that abortion is illegal everywhere or that leaving their state would get them in legal trouble. Or even with the support from ourselves and our partner abortion fund providers, they still have too many other responsibilities to even just leave for one day,” Lamunyon Sanford said.
Over the course of the last few years, to meet the increased need, FRRA has grown from a staff of two full-time and two part-time employees to 10 full-time and two part-time employees along with two interns.
Lamunyon Sanford said that the last few years have felt “like a natural disaster.”
“You know what’s coming and you try to prepare but you never really know what the impact and damage is going to be. And now we’re likely on the other side of that storm, and we’re just really grateful that the community is right there with us,” Lamunyon Sanford said.
FRRA will also holding an open house on May 1 in Albuquerque.
