Indigenous Women Rising rebrands amid decrease in donations and increased costs

Indigenous Women Rising, a grassroots abortion fund provider supporting Native individuals, is experiencing a decrease in donations while, simultaneously, an increase in those needing their services. Rachel Lorenzo, founder and co-executive director of IWR, told NM Political Report that the abortion fund provider experienced “huge growth” after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe […]

Indigenous Women Rising rebrands amid decrease in donations and increased costs

Indigenous Women Rising, a grassroots abortion fund provider supporting Native individuals, is experiencing a decrease in donations while, simultaneously, an increase in those needing their services.

Rachel Lorenzo, founder and co-executive director of IWR, told NM Political Report that the abortion fund provider experienced “huge growth” after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade

Lorenzo, who uses they/them pronouns, said IWR’s abortion fund, newly rebranded to be called the Rain Fund, has a monthly budget of $35,000. They said IWR is collaborating with new partners, such as the Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project, or The Map, which provides an asynchronous telemedicine platform to provide abortion medication with a sliding pay scale.

“But in the last year and a half, donations have absolutely gone down,” Lorenzo said. 

Lorenzo, Mescalero Apache and Laguna Pueblo, said that while donations are down, costs are increasing, both in terms of abortion care and travel costs.

The loss of donors to abortion funds has become a national phenomenon. Because of the Hyde Amendment, federal Medicaid dollars cannot cover abortion care for those who are eligible. The Hyde Amendment also prevents the Indian Health Service from providing abortion services. The Hyde Amendment has been a rider attached to the annual federal budget every year for decades. 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said during the groundbreaking for a new full-spectrum reproductive healthcare clinic in Las Cruces that New Mexico is one of only 11 states that use state Medicaid funds to cover abortion for individuals who are eligible for Medicaid coverage.  

Related: Las Cruces reproductive healthcare clinic expected to open as financial gaps in abortion care increase

“What we need now is for donors to become sustainable donors to help us to project how many we’ll be able to help,” Lorenzo said. 

But they said that the state where IWR is hearing from Native callers more lately has been New Mexico, even though New Mexico Medicaid covers abortion care with state dollars for eligible individuals.

Marina Piña, spokesperson for the New Mexico Healthcare Authority, which oversees Medicaid, confirmed that New Mexico Medicaid covers pregnancy terminations for enrolled members. She said, through email, that Medicaid provider reimbursement policy can be accessed here and that enrolled members of New Mexico Medicaid visit the Turquoise Care health plan, call at 1-800-283-4465 or check eligibility here

Lorenzo said IWR still reimburses Native callers for their cost to access abortion medication through The MAP. But they said IWR is seeing more Native patients in need of abortion later in pregnancy, when the care requires a procedural abortion and is more expensive than abortion medication. Lorenzo said the cost for procedural abortion is increasing.

They said IWR hit its monthly budget by the second week of October and that is the fifth time this year that has happened. When the abortion fund hits the ceiling of its monthly budget, IWR closes the fund down for the rest of that month. Lorenzo said IWR has also shrunk its monthly budget in an effort to remain sustainable.

Lorenzo said IWR has to do more fundraising to make ends meet. But they said IWR sees it as an opportunity for community engagement and a way to educate donors about reproductive healthcare for Native individuals. 

“We’re going to have to stay prepared with a year’s worth of funding to be able to continue helping Indigenous people across Indian country,” they said. 

A sign of hope

Despite the difficulties of operating an abortion fund in a post-Roe landscape, IWR has, literally, drawn the symbol of hope into its abortion fund.

With the rebranding of the fund, which didn’t have a specific name before but is now called the Rain Fund, IWR has also created a new logo. Lorenzo said the face in the middle of the logo is turned away and “looking toward the sun.”

They said the Indigenous person symbolized in the logo is “looking toward a brighter future.”

“Abortion is viewed as a doom and gloom procedure. Many out there, as soon as they found out they were pregnant, knew they wanted an abortion. They came across barriers, lack of support, a lack of information and resources. We want it to be a bright logo that shows we shouldn’t be ashamed or scared of abortion, or the word abortion,” Lorenzo said. 

Marcus Trujillo, Laguna Pueblo and communications and media manager for IWR, said the logo, which symbolizes corn, squash and climbing beans, is an Indigenous agricultural reference. When grown together, the three “help one another in growing,” Trujillo said. The logo also contains an image of rain and rain clouds. Trujillo said that is important to pueblo tradition.

“As Pueblo people, we center rain,” Trujillo said. 

Lorenzo said IWR hopes that when people “look at the Rain Fund, they see a cultural approach to abortion care.”

IWR is moving away from calling itself a reproductive justice organization and, instead, is focusing on the term reproductive sovereignty. Lorenzo said the term reproductive justice “doesn’t really resonate with our community.”

They said reproductive sovereignty includes “our values as stewards of the environment” and that to care for the environment, individuals need to be healthy.

“This is also a way for us to include our Tribal leaders and help bridge that gap in understanding in sexual health and tradition and culture,” Lorenzo said. 

Trujillo said the word sovereignty is often understood as meaning power or authority but for Tribal people, the word is “more about responsibility.” 

“We understand responsibility over our own bodies, knowing what’s best for them,” Trujillo said.

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