Meet our Grant and Project Partners
Since 2012, the Abortion Conversation Projects has conducted grant cycles each year to fund over 91 individuals and small organizations around the United States and internationally who are using creative approaches to address abortion stigma in their communities.
We invite you to support and connect with their work! IN 2022, we receive 88 project proposals, half of them from projects in Africa, so clearly there is an unmet need for support DONATE: I Want To Help Today
2022
“Ending Abortion Stigma” is a project in Haiti that will do a major outreach and education effort on abortion and reproductive health during International Safe Abortion Week.
“The Book of Abortion” is a project in Kurdistan that assembles vital information in one place for policy makers, academics, activists, and the public at large.
“How to Terminate My Pregnancy” will make information about abortion access available in French, Arabic, and English to all MENA (Middle East/North Africa) countries.
AVOW-Texas for their outstanding “Let’s Talk About Abortion” efforts.
“A is for …." a cultural organization that will produce a comic book about the need to travel to obtain an abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned. The collection of comics will be edited by New Yorker Magazine artist Emily Flake.
The North Dakota WIN Fund Book Club will expand their club and continue to read books about abortion and discussing abortion stigma and will help ACP in promoting abortion book clubs.
“Colours of My Dignity,” a Kenyan project uses trained “influencers” on What’s App to educate followers about the facts of abortion and to counteract the prevalent stigma about abortion.This second grant will help them refine their model of encouraging discussion about abortion.
Haven of Dreams in Kenya conducts highly effective Values Clarification training in the community.
2021
Manodiversa works with LGBT and non-binary people in Bolivia and has found a great deal of intersectionality with abortion access. They will produce a booklet of first person stories that will increase awareness not only in Bolivia but will be distributed thoughout Latin America.
Beyond Stigma will bring values clarification tools to a group of social workers and health care workers in Kenya and help them understand the reality of people seeking abortion.
Colors of My Dignity, also in Kenya, will use trained “influencers” on What’s App to educate followers about the facts of abortion and to counteract the prevalent stigma about abortion.
Dopo Doula Training has already completed a successful international 6 week course to train doulas who help women through reproductive experiences including abortion. Zachi Brewster and Carly Manes expect to train another cohort in the Fall and offer discounts to those who need them.
Abortion: My Body, My Sacred Decision is a project of Soul2Soul which supports Black Womxn through the full spectrum of reproductive experiences in the Denver Metro area. They have a variety of weekly support groups that empower women and give them a safe space to discuss their experiences.
Found (abortion) Monument has an installation at Unison Art Center, New Paltz, NY, as part of the land-based exhibition “Owning Earth.” Their installation is a meadow with naturally growing abortifacient plants and they are educating the public about the ancient history of women trying to control their fertility.
So I Had an Abortion is an ongoing project in Canada that engages people through workshops and storytelling in English and Spanish in mutually beneficial ways.
The North Dakota WIN Fund Book Club will continue reading books about abortion and discussing abortion stigma. They have been tracking results of how book discussions shift stigma and hope to collect further data.
Lena Hann, who previously produced a Fetal Tissue Viewing Guide for clinics, will now produce accurate photos of fetal development for both patients and staff.
2020
“Committed Citizen” is a new play in development by Abbe Tanenbaum. The heart and inspiration for the piece are real letters written by women, pre-Roe and shortly after, seeking abortions from an underground clinic in New York. The international workshop will connect Three’s Theatre Company in Belfast, Northern Ireland and PACA in Erie PA. “The context of further developing the piece with actors in a country that has recently legalized abortion and those in an underserved city in the U.S. is extremely exciting to me,” explains Tanenbaum. “Powerful storytelling is one of the best tools to transform people’s understandings and facilitate compassion.” The performance on September 13, 2020 was open to the public via zoom and be followed by a talkback with ACP representatives. Since this devlopmental performance, Abbe has gotten an Off Broadway premiere in 2022 and more visibility. The play is now called “What Kind of Woman?”
“Vicenas Feministas” is an ambitious project involving reproductive rights groups throughout Latin America. According to Andrea Verceros, “Each Latin American country is in a different stage of opening up access to abortion services and we want our messaging to be coordinated. The twelve organizations collaborating point out that “There is a danger that we will inadvertently stigmatize in debating the half measures offered.” The project will bring together leaders from 16 countries to have talking points that all can embrace.
“Artivism” at Hartford GYN Center seeks to collaborate with patients and supporters in developing engaging artistic expressions, which will stand in stark contrast to the targeted harassment that has plagued Connecticut’s sole independent abortion provider for years. An installation of moveable panels with interactive components will welcome staff and patients into a beautiful and affirming space, while creating a constantly evolving mural that will generate conversations about abortion and breakdown stigma in unexpected places.
“The Choice: VR” is the amazing project of Joanne Aśka Popińska and her partner Tom C. Hall, who have filmed in Virtual Reality 6 people sharing their abortion stories. “Storytelling in VR is moving, memorable, and very effective in breaking down stereotypes, as it can resemble having an actual conversation,” she explains. Although this is a long and expensive project, ACP has been supportive of this innovation and hope to help them finish the editing so that these stories can be available. The team is currently working on releasing the first interview as the stand alone chapter that will be available to the audience. With this material, they will then seek resources to complete the full-scope project. They premiered in an Amsterdam Festival and won acclaim at South by Southwest Conference in Autin, TX in 2022.
Telling Truer Stories: Music Album aims to continue the success of Telling Truer Stories (An Anthology for Safe and Legal Abortion), by putting stories to music. Tentatively titled "Pasya" or “Choice,” it features the musical collaboration of artists with abortion storytellers in the Philippines “to move the topic of abortion out of the stigmatized horror genre it’s been caged in for decades, and deliver it to listeners in an audio experience that is fun, liberating, and ultimately, more realistic,” according to Kristine Chan.
ACP is working with Viva Ruiz of “Thank God for Abortion” to validate that religious people can affirm abortion and women’s autonomy. According to Ruiz, a performance and installation artist, “I believe God wants us to be happy. My faith is joyful and celebrates women’s lives.”
2019
Space Submarine Commander is a short musical comedy video that tells the story, through allegory, of the difficulty of obtaining an abortion. Alanna Stewart, the filmmaker, lives and works in Tennessee and knows how state regulations put up barriers for women seeking abortion. According to Stewart, “We want to create space for the viewer to imagine a world in which a woman taking control of her destiny is heroic rather than shameful.” In the film, the heroine presents her abortion as normal, even if the circumstances are not, as well as an act of self love in the final ballad.
Contá Conmigo, a storytelling project, aims to change how the country of Uruguay thinks about women who have abortions. Lucía Berro Pizzarossa, a lawyer who researched the debate on legalizing abortion and found that the images presented by the members of parliament were based on harmful stereotypes rather than on women’s lived experiences. The project encourages women to tell their abortion stories on their own terms. Says Pizzarossa, “Contá Conmigo has a double meaning: in Spanish, the word ‘contar’ means to tell (a story) and also to count on somebody so in this project women will tell their stories and also support each other.
Mommie is Pro-Abortion will explore how abortion care workers can talk about their work with their children. Jen Groves, a NJ provider, observes, “We have inadvertently stigmatized our own life’s work.” The project will bring together front line staff to discuss what supports would be helpful. ACP is offering seed funding to create a needs assessment that will help us understand the next steps for parents who work in abortion care.
The WIN Book Club The WIN Fund started a book club to bring together pro-choice people in North Dakota, creating a space for nuanced discussion. The WIN Book Club will reach out to new audiences and help evaluate the strategy of conversations about books as a stigma reducer in a red state.
You Are Not Alone (YANA) received ACP funding to start a safe space for people to discuss abortion experiences using a peer support model. Stephanie Pineira has teamed up with Peer Support Space, which runs 20 support groups on diverse topics in Florida.
2018
The Louisiana Abortion Stories Project is archiving the stories of women who have had an abortion, collected by the Louisiana Abortion Fund. Powerful storytelling is an important strategy in addressing stigma and the group will access a local radio show to share stories.
The Sister Network in Sweden is focusing its efforts on Polish doctors and providers whose prejudices against abortion, even for fetal anomalies, cause women to seek services in other countries and sometimes less effective methods available on the internet. “Fighting Reproductive Stigma among Polish Healthcare Providers” will expose the medical community in Poland, where abortion is legal but inaccessible, to a more supportive, non-judgmental patient centered model.
“Outfitting Our Troops: Reproaction Visibility at Actions” has a simple approach: brightly colored t-shirts to brand Reproaction at its innovative demonstrations.
Lena Hann has spent years exploring how and whether clinics show fetal tissue to their patients. “ACP has taken an interest in this topic, and Lena has advanced people’s comfort levels with the conversations about fetal tissue. ACP is funding the printing and distribution in Spring of 2020 of Hann’s “Fetal Tissue Viewing Guide” for clinic staff.
The Birth Justice Doula Training is a 3 day training to be facilitated by the Southern Birth Justice Network and Spiral Harbor Doula & Lactation. This training is focused on holistic birth and abortion care that is accessible and central to all, especially Black, Brown, immigrant, indigenous, queer, transgender, low-income and other marginalized communities. At the end of the three days, new doulas will be skilled in supporting people through the process of having a baby or an abortion. Trainees will also learn how to become organizers on a local campaign to expand Medicaid to cover doula support in Florida. “South Florida is considered pretty progressive when it comes to politics and culture. However, the conversation surrounding abortion is still taboo.” This Birth Justice Doula training is seeking to change that” says Tifanny Burks, reproductive justice community organizer and founder of Aya's Village.
Novelly in a Box is a new national initiative sparking the next generation of global citizens through Young Adult (YA) fiction. Two young women of color who are public health professionals are starting a virtual book club on Instagram and building a community of high school chapters for young adults to discuss stigmatized reproductive experiences. Each semester, Novelly will have a theme related to the UN Sustainable Development goals, also known as Global Goals, of (1) gender equality and (2) good health and well-being for all. Each semester features a YA novel touching on a theme, and Novelly is kicking off their inaugural semester by fostering nationwide conversations about abortion. Each semester will include reading, reflection, discussion, and at least four dialogue events. “The novel (format) humanizes abortion and builds empathy,” Novelly notes, “while the dialogue guide builds critical thinking.”
Focus on Abortion: Americans Share Their Stories harnesses the power of stories through photographs and first-person narratives and intends to widen the public's understanding of abortion by humanizing those who have made the decision. Roslyn Banish has already interviewed and photographed a wide range of people who have had abortions. She will build a “traveling exhibit” of the photos and stories and hopes to reach communities in varied locations in the US. Banish has previously completed a similar project on HIV status.
Watch our Blog for updates on our Grant Partners.
Our History Of Grant Partners
2017
The Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice will bring together clergy from a tri-state area to be proactive in supporting women and in speaking out about abortion.
EMA, or Emergency Medical Assistance, an abortion fund in Palm Beach, has been awarded an ACP grant to stage an innovative and community-oriented theater production. The production will showcase local women's abortion stories, as collected by EMA during four decades of service, performed by local actresses. Learn more at www.emawpb.org.
Lena Hann and Jessica Lechtenberg will create a Fetal Tissue Viewing Guide for clinics to develop a protocol.
COLOR, a small Denver-based activist group, reaches out to Latinx populations in Colorado with normalizing images and messages about abortion. Their 2018 work, including both a traveling photo exhibit and theater production, will continue to engage Latinx audiences through creative explorations of abortion stories.
Shout Your Abortion (#ShoutYourAbortion) is a national group dedicated to helping people affirm their abortion experiences. SYA is in the process of creating a high end "coffee table book" with art and stories, which ACP will help to distribute to independent abortion care facilities throughout the country. This collaboration between ACP and SYA will get abortion stories into the hands of patients, family members, and friends who are in the process of abortion journeys.
The Spiral Collective in Minnesota is a doula-based anti-stigma group that brings training to staff as a way of making space to explore how stigma affects their lives and how staff can help each other and the patients in their care.
In This Together Project (Michigan) supports staff as well as providing affirming packets for patients, support people and activities for children who may have to accompany patients. Read our newest Blog for one of their compelling stories.
THEATREclub in Dublin Ireland will present an installation called “Not At Home” at the Fringe Festival and live streamed to the internet. The artistic event draws upon the stories of women who have had to leave Ireland to find abortion services and will offer interactive theater to help people understand these experiences.
Abortion Access Hackathon will bring together providers and programmers and other tech people to collaborate on solutions to problems at a weekend conference in New York in the Fall.
2016
The Knoxville Abortion Doula Collective is creating a hotline and website that will offer information, support, and direct contact with their volunteer abortion doulas who offer support to people going through a reproductive experience.
The Abortion Broadcast: The Podcast from the Other End of the Speculum, a project by Jacquelyn Day, will amplify the voices of abortion care workers who are rarely heard.
The Fort Worth, Texas Whole Woman’s Health Clinic is creating a mural that will serve as a bulwark against virulent anti abortion protests and a beacon for patients who seek abortion care. The Shift Stigma Mural Project replicates a previous ACP funded project in McAllen Texas.
Safer Sex is a Blessing is a traveling conversation for communities of faith in Honduras, where abortion is illegal. The Ecumenical Leaders for Choice (Las Ecumenicas Por El Derecho a Decidir) are sparking a conversation about abortion and human rights within the context of gender equality and reproductive and sexual health.
The End Abortion Stigma Initiative in South Africa will celebrate 20 years of legal abortion by inviting artists and performers to engage with audiences about the considerable institutional stigma around abortion that exists in that country.
2015
Lena Hann, assistant professor of public health at Augustana College in Illinois, created a resource to help abortion care workers connect with patients to view and discuss fetal tissue post-abortion. The Best Practices Guide will give a deeper voice to clinic workers and support a huge step in stigma eradication.
The Clinic Vest Project based in Chicago distributes free, colorful clinic escort vests to abortion providers around the country. The vests "communicate a sense of peaceful authority to anti-choice protestors, and a sense of protection for our patients and their companions,” says board member Benita Ulisano.
The Doula Project in New York City created a zine called “DIY Doula: Self Care Before, During & After Your Abortion." It empowers doulas as well as individuals who are considering an abortion or who have had an abortion. diydoula.org
The ARTivism project of COLORLatina and the COLORado 1 in 3 Youth Council blends artistic expression with activism as it fosters dialogue and story collection to challenge abortion stigma. COLORado 1 in 3 Youth Council
The Western New York Reproductive Justice Film Series is a four-part film screening held at different venues and targeting different audiences. After each film, a forum is held and direct action is encouraged.
Passion for Women and Children in Malawi used ACP funds to produce this educational video to fight stigma and raise awareness of the tragic consequences of unsafe abortion, which cause more than 1,000 deaths per year in the small African country.
The Women's Centers, quality abortion providers, organized positive faith messaging during the World Meeting of Families in September 2015. The Women's Centers have long been respectful of the religious views of their patients and engaged with The Pope and faith leaders in Philadelphia to organize a positive response. www.philadelphiawomenscenter.com
Student activists at New York University are creating a 'zine on College Abortion Experiences with the support of an ACP Seed Grant. They have a Facebook page at Better Sex Talk.
Holding Our Space in the Boston area creates safe spaces where all pregnancy losses can be recognized. According to Jacqui, the organizer for the event, "We want to honor...experiences that our society doesn't typically honor: infertility, miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, and loss of an infant."
2014
Family Tree Clinic and the Adoption Option Council of Minnesota coordinated new connections and understanding in a facilitated day of conversation between the Adoption Community and Reproductive Justice Advocates. Learn about the event here. www.familytree.org
Whole Woman’s Health coordinated the painting of a huge mural on the exterior building wall of their clinic when it was forced to close by untenable legislative regulations, reassuring women abortion is legal in Texas. Clinic staff believe that the mural will be a “beacon that says, ‘We are open and you are not alone.'” www.wholewomanshealth.com See also Shift Stigma
Red Balance in Mexico collected people's testimonies about their struggle for legalized abortion and our Grant Partner, Fondo Maria Abortion Fund for Social Justice and Red Balance recruited celebrities to amplify the message of those women who told their stories. Here is one of the videos with English subtitles. www.redbalance.org
Two colleagues from WIN.NYC Pro-Choice Network distributed blank postcards in print and online venues. They invited people to write, draw, picture their abortion story, and then showcased the postcards for viewing and conversation. abortionlookslike.tumblr.com
Megan Smith is the founder of the Repeal Hyde Art Project and uses participatory art to bring attention to the lack of Medicaid funding for abortions. Now she is training young women in leadership skills to carry the campaign to college audiences. www.repealhydeartproject.org
Lori Brown of Architexx is an architect who brings design to bear on social problems. In Private Choices, Public Spaces, she solicited design ideas far and wide about how to design a fence outside Jackson Women’s Health, the last abortion clinic in Mississippi. The collaborative will consider the responses in an exhibit at Parson’s New School of Design in New York and finalize a design. www.architexx.org
Emily Letts, whose video “This is My Story” went viral after winning the Abortion Care Network’s Stigma Busting Video Competition, was awarded a grant to do further video production. Her video was created at Cherry Hill Women's Center in NJ, and she has since joined with notalone.us to bring first-person video accounts to the site. www.notalone.us
Social Workers for Reproductive Justice sponsored three webinars for social workers and social work students on reproductive health and pregnancy options. www.swrj.org
The Boston Doula Salon is using a monthly discussion series to educate local activists and individuals about a wide range of reproductive justice issues including challenging abortion stigma. www.bostondoulaproject.org
The Peace Foundation of Pakistan, where abortion is legal but is considered a sin by many, has received a grant to buy software to communicate vital abortion and sexual health information with women in rural areas. www.peacefoundation-pak.org Find them on Facebook here.
2013
Blue Mountain Women’s Clinic in Missoula, MT created local original theater called Sex in the Zoo: Narratives to tell women’s abortion stories. www.bluemountainclinic.org
Cindy Cooper of Words of Choice brought together actors, clergy, historians, and activists on a Reproductive Justice Walking Tour in NYC. The tour ended at Judson Memorial Church where Rev. Howard Moody started the Clergy Consultation Service to help women find abortion services before abortion was legal. reprojusticewalking.tumblr.com
Our Bodies, Our Bikes: Women’s Health and Wellness On and Off the Bicycle has chosen an essay on abortion from a writer in Northern Ireland with the help of an honorarium funded by an ACP grant. www.takingthelane.com
Abortion Chat reached out to writers to include the complexity of abortion in their writing. Founder Lynne Schmidt attended a sex education conference and a writer’s conference to talk with authors about abortion. www.abortionchat.org
Project Voice founder Maya Pindyck wanted to push back against all the anti-abortion ads on the NYC subway, so she devised a post-it sticker campaign to bring some new messages to a public space. “Abortion is nothing to be ashamed of” is one; another reads, “Everyone knows someone who has had an abortion.” www.projectvoice.org
The Seattle Full Spectrum Doulas started Circle of Stories, an abortion support group with a writing and arts component. www.fullspectrumdoulas.org
Education for Choice in the UK offered information on abortion, pregnancy, and sexual health using social networks such as Tumblr. www.efc.org.uk
Emerge, a successful post abortion support group in Minneapolis, MN, has documented their curriculum and process so that others can replicate its results. www.prochoiceresources.org
Abortion, According to Me collected interviews for a podcast from rural Indian women about how abortion is viewed in their communities and the complex nature of their choices. Abortion is legal in India, but only 40% of the abortions are safe.
The Atlanta-based Feminist Women's Health Center’s Lifting Latina Voices Initiative used their grant to train Promotoras to discuss abortion in the Latina community. www.feminstcenter.org
2012
Plants for Patients founder Meg Roberts is an artist and potter in Fargo, ND who creates hand thrown pots and fills them with houseplants to offer to abortion patients at Red River Women's Clinic. The exchange has been transformative for all. With ACP funding, Meg extended the program to clinics in Montana. www.plantsforpatients.org
UniteWomen.org, a national organization based in Michigan, received funds to create videos that encourage women to claim their goodness. They have made “Good Women” videos engaging grassroots members and addressing multiple levels of stigma. www.unitewomen.org
The Concord Feminist Health Center staged a community production of The Abortion Monologues with the New Hampshire NARAL chapter. They had a provider on the panel discussion after the performance. Learn about the event here. www.feministhealth.org
The Georgia Reproductive Justice Action Network -- renamed The Magnolia Fund -- received funds for a Transformative Connections Outreach and Volunteer Training for their advocacy and funding project for women seeking abortions in NE Georgia. www.fundabortionnow.org/funds/GRJAN
Inspire was a new online support group for women who have had an abortion and need a place to discuss their experiences. They used the ACP funds to make clinics and other organizations aware of the resource.
