Abortion-related crowdfunding post-Dobbs.

Abstract

Previous research on abortion-related crowdfunding campaigns found that they are impacted by stigma around abortion and rarely successful. This paper analyzes crowdfunding activity in the US following a leak of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs. V. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a time period that saw increased financial support of abortion access funds. Crowdfunding campaigns that included "abort" or "abortion" and were created between May 2 and November 8, 2022 were recorded from the GoFundMe and GiveSendGo crowdfunding platforms. These campaigns were reviewed for whether they were US based and sought funding where abortion was used as a justification for support. Included campaigns were assigned a campaign recipient type: (1) Organizations providing abortion access; (2) Organizations seeking legal protection for abortion; (3) Individuals seeking abortion access; (4) Organizations seeking to reduce abortion access; and (5) Individuals with needs resulting from choosing not to access abortion. The authors also identified four types of rationale for supporting these campaigns. Following a leak of the Dobbs decision, 398 abortion-related crowdfunding campaigns in the US raised over $3.8 million from over 50,000 donations. Campaigns supporting abortion access organizations raised higher median amounts than organizations seeking to reduce abortion access. Individuals seeking abortion access raised higher median amounts than individuals who chose not to terminate a pregnancy. In a reversal from pre-Dobbs crowdfunding, abortion access campaigns tended to outperform other abortion-related campaigns. It is not clear how long-lived this change in support will be and campaigners remain vulnerable to changes in platforms' content moderation policies.