Abortion Justice Requires Philanthropic Investment in the Women of Color Leading the Fight
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STEVE EDREFF/SHUTTERSTOCK
For decades, women of color have successfully pioneered ground-breaking, one-of-a-kind leadership and network-building models in the fight to eliminate economic, geographic and countless other barriers to abortion access for communities around the country. While access to care is on the line like never before, women of color have the tools to respond. Now, we need people to listen. And just as important—we need philanthropy to support our work.
Since its inception, All* Above All has always put forth bold, proactive strategies. From an exciting, visionary brand introduced 10 years ago, to an almost unheard-of deep investment in movement-building, we’ve led a coalition that has shifted narratives, built power, and pushed transformative policies that center Black, Indigenous and other communities of color. As we prepare to hand over the day-to-day management of this coalition to the next generation of leaders and think about the work ahead to make sure people can get abortions, we’ve been reflecting on what enabled us to make progress in the often bleak landscape of reproductive health, rights and justice.
We are unabashedly proud that the foundation of our work is rooted in the collective power, expertise and experiences of women and people of color. Because of this, All* Above All enacts change by focusing on and lifting up the experiences and voices of these communities.
This approach is the reason that we have seen remarkable progress in All* Above All’s work to repeal the Hyde Amendment, a federal policy that denies health insurance coverage of abortion. The reality is that the Hyde Amendment disproportionately harms people of color, yet the historical mainstream voices on abortion restrictions tend to be white. By focusing on those most harmed, All* revolutionized future visions of abortion justice and reproductive justice advocacy. Less than a decade ago, Hyde was considered a third-rail issue, but today, public support for ending Hyde is at an all-time high, Congress has introduced a bill to repeal it, and President Joe Biden released the first presidential budget in decades that eliminated the policy.
Not an easy road
These are just some of the many ways women-of-color-led efforts have secured major wins and influenced progressive policy change. But it has not been an easy road.
Many of the resources, attention and philanthropic support on this issue all too often centered the work of large, powerful organizations that historically lacked the leadership and input of women of color. In fact, we often saw our work completely undermined or ignored, despite the fact that much of it predated the mainstream activism we see today. While this detracts from broader organizing efforts, it doesn’t deter us from our goal of centering women and people of color in our leadership and our own activism.
As women of color, we’ve often had to fight for a seat at the table—to be heard by folks in power who did not trust our knowledge and lived experiences. We faced this resistance from other movement members who did not share our belief in the reproductive justice values rooted at the very foundation of our work or did not comprehend how intersecting oppressions underscored the dire need for this approach. Through the repeated devaluing of the insights and strategies for achieving liberation, we learned early on how to become our own best advocates—for ourselves and the communities we serve—and have never been more successful.
We knew that being unapologetic about our hyper-focus on the communities we know best would be key to our success. Starting from an intersectional approach, we recognized that equitable abortion access is necessary for people to determine their futures and thrive. We centered the leadership of people of color. We followed a multi-pronged strategy that moved policy, shaped narratives, and built networks.
A key part of our approach was deep, long-term investments in partnerships. Whether we were working with states to move policy or colleague organizations to build networks, we avoided an “in-and-out” approach. This not only enabled them to test new strategies, but to fail, to try again, and to build power without the instability of wondering if we would be there with them the next year.
This commitment, and our commitment to listening to organizations’ priorities, earned us the trust of our local and state network partners and fostered strong relationships.
Fortunately, we had a number of funders who similarly invested in us by listening to us, collaborating, and committing to long-term funding. It was nothing short of game-changing.
In building networks, we modeled a winning strategy for other organizations and funders who recognized our success and wanted to build on it.
While the outlook feels bleak for our federal rights, our work has proven time and time again that there is a way forward. All* Above All has been a catalyst for change, and our uncompromising commitment to our work, our communities, and each other is the galvanizing force that allows us to remain hopeful and push forward.
How philanthropy can support abortion justice
By supporting the work of women of color, the philanthropic community can foster even greater change and positive impact. As we await a Supreme Court decision, we are unapologetic in our belief that All*’s model and the collective power of women-of-color-led efforts on abortion advocacy are critical and demand the attention of philanthropic leaders who believe in and want to support reproductive justice.
People of color, trans and queer communities, folks working to make ends meet, and other marginalized groups face the greatest barriers to accessing abortion care—and women of color have led the way, fighting to liberate us all.
In the past nine years, All* has developed a detailed roadmap and an action plan on how to achieve abortion justice for all, and we’ve achieved major wins by not only focusing on federal policy like Hyde, but by working simultaneously with state and local organizations and elected officials.
For us, multi-level change as well as geographic reach is critically important in our strategy. Voting to approve municipal funding for abortion assistance in Austin, Texas, in the face of state preemption and allocating local funding to the regional abortion fund in Portland, Oregon, in response to Texas bill SB 8 are just two recent examples of how All* has helped to invigorate grassroots organizing and meaningfully improve access at the local level.
Our work requires intersectionality, and we take an intersectional approach in all we do. When we say “abortion justice,” we mean racial, economic and immigrant justice because we understand that people live multi-faceted lives and are impacted by a variety of injustices. We not only work with partners in the immigrant, racial and economic justice fields, but we rely on their expertise to determine what these communities need.
We have built strategic roadmaps, laid the groundwork, ushered in policy change, and educated and influenced elected officials at all levels. We have been fearless, and despite the endless obstacles in our way, we have prevailed. Our expertise and lived experiences are unparalleled and invaluable to the reproductive justice movement. They are also its backbone.
All*’s ground-breaking work is a testament to why the philanthropic community needs to invest in the leadership and work of women of color. The trust our funders had in allowing us and other BIPOC leaders to create and develop both vision and strategy rooted in our own communities and lived experience is best practice and must continue. Multi-year support, general support grants, and support for BIPOC leaders to create sustainable cultures within their organizations, for themselves, must be the standard.
We have never had any choice but to be bold because the status quo rarely works for communities of color. We win when we are rooted in shared values, supportive relationships, and an unapologetic vision. This has never been about one leader, one organization, or one voice. Reproductive justice is about our collective, grassroots efforts that build power to liberate us all.
Acknowledging our work is important, but supporting our efforts is vital. All*’s leadership shows what’s possible when women of color are at the helm. With even more support, we can achieve abortion justice.
Destiny Lopez and Silvia Henriquez are the co-presidents of All* Above All.
