Creating a Safe Place, Breaking Down Financial Barriers
The first grant recipient of Access Walk’s fundraising effort includes Cedar River Clinics, a Washington-based provider of reproductive health care. They have four clinics located in Yakima, Seattle, Renton and Tacoma.
Cedar River Clinics, run by the Feminist Women’s Health Center, has provided compassionate reproductive health care, birth control, and abortions for over 40 years.
Growing Financial Barriers
As state laws related to abortion access across the nation change in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, more individuals have been forced to travel long distances to access safe abortion services.
This is creating a situation where those without the financial means – low-income and traditionally marginalized community members – to access reproductive health services in locations outside their home town or state are feeling the largest burden of the impact.
This is precisely the reason Access Walk was created.
While financial assistance for individuals has always been available through Cedar River Clinics, Mercedes Sanchez, director of development, communications, and community education and outreach at Cedar River Clinics, said the need is growing.
“Since Roe v. Wade was overturned and hostile states have passed abortion bans, the rights of individuals to seek safe reproductive health care services within their communities have been destroyed,” Sanchez said. “Without local clinics, our rights are meaningless and those seeking abortion services are facing the financial hurdle of travel, time off work, childcare, accommodations and more.This overwhelmingly impacts low-income individuals and marginalized communities the most. In 2023, we should be expanding access to reproductive healthcare services and ensure a person’s financial means does not impact their access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare services.”
Sanchez said they are seeing a continually growing number of out-of-state individuals seeking their services, which is putting a strain on resources. Clinics, even with the help of abortion funds, have to subsidize the cost of care for individuals who cannot afford it and out-of-state patients do not qualify for our state programs.
“We remain committed to serving everyone seeking care within Washington and those from out of state,” Sanchez said. “The funds provided by Access Walk will go a long way to helping more people access those services without having to choose between their cost of living, like rent and food, and their immediate health care needs.”
The funds raised from Access Walk, a non-profit organization, will be distributed to groups like Cedar River Clinics to be used to defray patients’ travel costs, such as transportation, accommodations, gas, food, child care, and other expenses, associated with seeking safe abortion services at their clinics. The funds will not be used to fund the medical procedure itself.
Holding a Safe, Caring Space for Individuals
Sanchez, like the clinics’ staff, recognizes that there are many reasons an individual seeks abortion services and said that her and the staff’s role is to hold those patients in a safe and caring space.
“We foster compassionate care without judgment,” Sanchez explained. “We know that everyone has a story and a reason for their choice and no one needs to justify or explain. We are there to support them, take care of them, and let them know they are in a safe place with skilled and compassionate caregivers.”
“It’s their body, their choice,and their future,” she said. “We hear the patient stories and they run the gamut from someone simply wanting to continue their education or not being able to afford another child to the tragic, those needing to end a wanted pregnancy due to fetal or maternal health indication.”
Sanchez recounted a story where a young woman came in with her mother. The girl was so ashamed to tell her mother that she had been sexually assaulted, she asked the clinic staff to support her, in her native language, to tell her mother. The mother was understanding and asked the staff to hold her daughter if she cried.
“Moments like that,” Sanchez said, “affirm the trust our staff holds to support our patients and that the work we do is the nexus of compassion, healthcare, and human rights.”
Join Us at Access Walk Sunday, September 24, 2023
Cedar River Clinics staff will walk alongside individuals at the first-ever Access Walk Seattle event Sunday, September 24, 2023.
“We’ll be there in support of fellow walkers, our patients, our community, and those who need our support now more than ever,” Sanchez said. “It will be a good day to remind everyone that access to reproductive health care is for everyone, no matter their financial situation or zip code”
The inaugural Access Walk Seattle takes place at Volunteer Park. Individuals and teams can register to participate here.