Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade by extremist Supreme Court judges, and the elevated threats against pregnant people, Movement labs launched our Abortion Defense Fellowship and has been texting millions of voters on behalf of over 65 directly impacted abortion funds, providers, and advocacy organizations leading the fight for reproductive choice on the ground.
Abortion Defenders
Help us send 20 MILLION texts on behlaf of these local leaders to we identify previously unengaged abortion supporters, drive them to action, turn them out to vote and move them into membership and engagement supporting advocacy, direct services, and more.
“Texans are fired up to protect abortion rights and aren’t waiting for November to take action. We’re thrilled to work with Movement Labs to reach exponentially more potential advocates than we could possibly have on our own. Together, we’re empowering the majority of Texans who support abortion access, and local and city leaders are responding with immediate, concrete policies.”
– Avow Texas
Abortion Defenders (Fellows):
From now through November, we will be texting millions of people to fight for abortion rights! We’ve seen how successful texting can be to activate people to take action, and before the mid-term elections we need to turn out even more people to protect local abortion access. Our focus this summer and fall will be texting in three phases: identifying pro-choice activists, supporter engagement, and getting out the vote. We need all hands on deck to get these texts out!
Help protected Abortion Access – meet our Abortion Defenders Fellows
We are a statewide organization for unapologetic abortion rights advocacy. We have a political program that is grounded in our cultural change work and destigmatization. Through the fellowship, Avow will engage abortion rights supporters to have deep, empathetic conversations that take on abortion stigma and empower them to organize in their own communities through relational organizing. By taking on stigma, we’ll activate the majority of Texans who support abortion access to take back our power at the state level.
IAAF is dedicated to the belief that the freedom to choose legal abortion should be available to all individuals. This partnership with Movement Labs will allow IAAF to expand our network and increase fundraising at a critical time for abortion access in Iowa. Our organization has very limited capacity, we are very grateful to have an opportunity like this through Movement Labs and to have some new resources at our disposal. We have never done anything quite like this in our history.
Physicians for Reproductive Health is a group of doctors who use evidence, training, and organized action to champion your health care rights. Through this Fellowship, we support grassroots organizations and bring a medical perspective to conversations around reproductive freedom. We will use this fellowship to bring the physician’s perspective on abortion to a wider audience, and it will allow us to support the work and priorities of our partners.
We currently have a Roe ban being heard in our state. This program came at a great time, as our communities are desiring to do something and take action. Pro-Choice Arizona and the Abortion Fund of Arizona will use this Fellowship to strengthen our pro-abortion supporter base across the state, including rural, Native, and Indigenous communities, and get folks activated for the upcoming election.
People who support abortion still get nervous about the word, even after these past few months of talking about it. It is useful to be putting it out there like this is just normal conversation. Pro-Choice North Carolina will use this fellowship to further expand our reach with the majority of North Carolinians who believe abortion should remain legal in our state. We know there are pro-choice people all over the state, and we look forward to connecting with many more of them to build people power in their communities
REPRO Rising Virginia will use this fellowship to further our reach into communities we seek to build relationships. For example, rural communities where our organizing team doesn’t have reach. We hope to grow our programming to help bring in voices of folks who would like to jump in and help us as we fight to protect access to abortion care across the commonwealth both through our policy programs and practical support program.
We intend to use this fellowship to expand our reach in New Hampshire to engage more people around abortion access in our state. We want to make sure people know we’re here to support abortion seekings living in and traveling to New Hampshire, and we want to give people opportunities to get involved in the work to expand access to abortion.
The purpose of the Ohio Women’s Alliance Action Fund is to build capacity for women and femmes, particularly Black women, to determine the lives they want for themselves, their families, and their communities through the electoral process. We aim to reach over 1.5 million voters to ensure that they know they have the power to protect abortion access in Ohio. These texts are coming at a time when the organization is scaling up our program to ensure an Ohio Supreme Court win in November that will expand abortion access.
Women’s Law Project intends to use the Abortion Defenders program to empower and enhance our collective fight to defeat an anti-abortion state constitutional amendment designed to eliminate our reproductive rights and enable lawmakers to ban abortion in Pennsylvania. The good news is that the majority of Pennsylvanians share our values and perspectives; it is a matter of getting them the right information and mobilizing.
This is about accessing reproductive healthcare and protecting bodily autonomy. YWCA Kalamazoo and our partners across Michigan are on a mission to eliminate racism, empower women and see the community stand up for social justice, especially as it relates to personal health and reproductive freedom and access. This fellowship comes at the perfect moment for us, as we’re scaling local efforts statewide to pass the Right to Reproductive Freedom Ballot Initiative this November.
Amplify Georgia, the Feminist Health Center, and SPARK RJ NOW! are partners in campaigns to protect and expand abortion access in Georgia. We’re building power to make change at the state and local levels. Thanks to this fellowship, we’ll connect with new members and supporters across Georgia who want to pass a Reproductive Freedom Act, repeal abortion bans, and hold anti-abortion centers accountable.
Nevada NOW is working to pass the Equal Rights Amendment in Nevada, turning out supporters to vote and ensuring that people seeking abortion can access one regardless of finances. We are excited to turn out pro-choice voters and let people know how to get involved with our organization.
“I’m rather speechless- both at Roe being overturned and at how much this effort has helped us. Since you all started sending out text messages, we identified thousands of new supporters and received over 150 new volunteer sign-ups. This is so huge for our organization and turning out low-propensity and non-voters to vote no on the abortion ban on August 2nd. Thank you so much for doing this and giving us exactly what we needed to defeat this abortion ban. I know that the results of your effort will show up in the election results on Election Day.”
– Prairie Roots Kansas, Trust Women, & Vote No Kansas
How We Know It Works
In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court Decision, Movement Labs texted 5 million people across key states in the nation on behalf of 59 grantees (see below); local, grassroots organizations across the nation providing abortions, direct and logistical services, and advocacy for the most vulnerable populations. We identified nearly 250,000 new supporters for them, achieving an astoundingly high positive response rate, over 8% in deep red states, including West Virginia, Kansas, and Montana. In addition to identifying thousands of previously unengaged abortion supporters and connecting them to each of these local grassroots organizations, we directed them to take immediate action with their local organizations.
Actions Included
- Demanding state and national elected officials or the President protect access.
- Joining rallies, marches, and non-violent direct actions.
- Training to be volunteers for organizations, elections, voter registration, and at clinics supporting people seeking abortions.
- Donating to support abortion funds, clinics, and grassroots advocacy (groups raised up to $50,000 in one week!)
- Demanding their local District Attorney pledge not to prosecute abortion (Texas got 5 DA’s to commit to not prosecute abortions!)
- Signing petitions and action pledges.
- Plugging in on an immediate legislative campaign or ballot initiative to protect or expand abortion access.
- Sharing their own personal abortion stories
- Signing up to join the fight to protect and expand abortion access longterm.
Organizations benefit long-term from this influx of donations and volunteers. In the months and years to come, they will be using these new contact lists to help build power for crucial work, including educating their communities, advocating for local laws, raising money for travel funds, and turning out voters to stop the next wave of attacks on reproductive freedom at the ballot box.
“We are building a statewide advocacy program, and the help of movement labs has created a truly statewide list of contacts we can educate and activate on Abortion rights and our other priority issues. This was an invaluable service, and we have already called on the folks to rally for Sex Education in Miami-Dade and received great support.”
– Women’s Foundation of Florida
Abortion Defender (Grantees):
Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom
Here are 9 additional ways to plug in:
