Happy Hanukkah and buckle up, my little last-minute jelly donuts. It’s the penultimate volume of my 2022 Abortion Gift Guide. And it’s a short, sweet, and simple one. One for those of you who aren’t feeling super festive this year, perhaps. Or for those who are traveling and can’t be wrapping and packing boxes and bags. Or it’s just for those of you who are feeling the pain extra hard this December, who are exhausted from a year of bearing witness to so much suffering and need. For those of you who love the feeling of clicking “Donate”.
Here’s how it works: You click one of the links below, whichever one you want! You give money. Then you hit “reply” on this email—or send me a new one at hannahmatthewswrites @ protonmail dot com—and tell me in whose name you donated, and their address.
I’ll send them a beautiful “A donation has been made to ____ in your name by ____” card with a message about where the money is going and how it’s lighting new little candles, protecting flames in the darkness, illuminating strangers’ cross-country drives, their motel rooms and bathrooms and bus stations, their long nights laying on the floor of their babies’ nurseries or kids’ race-car-themed bedrooms as cramps roll through their body. I’ll let them know, specifically, what this gift means to someone’s safety, their health, their family, their future, their peace. And thus what it means to mine, and yours, and all of ours.
I’ll put some stickers and artwork in the card, and send it off (happy to write DON’T OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS on the outside envelope, if you’d like) with all the postage and extra $$$ necessary to ensure it reaches them by Saturday, 12/24.
Keep Our Clinics : In the last half decade, over 135 abortion clinics have been forced to close their doors. I don’t need to tell you how devastating that is, or how essential it is that we kick in some money to help independent clinics stay in their communities, where they’re desperately needed. Community abortion care is a community responsibility. That’s us.
Colorado Doula Project : An abortion support network run by some truly otherworldly doulas, for all the patients forced to travel to Colorado for care (that’s…a lot of them. More and more with every evil state-level ban that is passed). Here’s how powerful this one will be:
$15: a Lyft/Uber ride from the hotel to the clinic, for a client accessing a second- or third-trimester abortion
$30: gas reimbursement for a volunteer picking up and dropping off a client at the airport
$50: aftercare supplies for one client
$100: the entire meal stipend for a five-day stay in Colorado, specifically for clients accessing a second or third trimester abortion
$200: CDP’s donation towards the cost of a first-trimester abortion.
$1000: support packages for five out of state clients.
The SAFE Fund : SAFE is Maine’s statewide abortion fund, and I’m joining their board of directors! So the card will be really, really gushy and personal. I’ve seen firsthand what a donation to SAFE does. I’ve been the lucky person to tell someone, hundreds of times over the course of the last five years, that SAFE has covered the cost of their abortion. I’ve seen the happy tears, the relief, the future of freedom or safety set in motion by a $100 or $200 drop in the bucket. Trust me. It’s beautiful.
MAADCo (The Mountain Area Abortion Doula Collective) Care Packages : In Asheville, NC, the doulas of MAADCo are showing up for us not only with funding, information, emotional and practical support, but also with abortion care packages.
Care packages can include: pads, underwear, ibuprofen, Plan B, herbal tinctures, snacks, art supplies, pregnancy tests, journals, love notes, new underwear, hand sanitizer, tea, books, and more.
I know you want to be a part of making someone feel this cared for, this safe and comfortable, this held.
That’s all! Make sure that when you donate you let me know ASAP who the beautiful goodie-packed card is going to, and I’ll get them in the mail like a (much hotter and younger and sans-slave-labor) Santa Claus. I’m headed to the post office tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Vol.5 will be the last Abortion Gift Guide, and then we will return to our regularly scheduled abortion love letters, rantings, ruminations and juicy secrets.
If you want other gift ideas: Vol.1 (Children’s Book)/ Vol.2 (Merch) / Vol.3 (Zines)