Helping to ensure access
to safe, legal abortions for
Wisconsin's neediest women.

PO Box 248
Madison WI 53701
(608) 256-8900

Abortion
in Wisconsin today:
Legal but inaccessible

The right to choose an abortion is meaningless without access to abortion services.

Although abortion is legal, increasingly restrictive laws are limiting access for all women. Poor women unable to pay for an abortion are effectively denied access to complete health care services.

Federal and state government funds cannot be used to pay for abortions; most health insurance will not pay for abortions.

Wisconsin has the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. Poor and rural women are particularly hard hit by these laws. One law mandates two visits to a doctor, 24 hours apart, increasing the costs of obtaining an abortion.

Wisconsin has limited abortion clinic services, located only in Milwaukee, Madison and Appleton; often women must pay for travel, childcare or overnight accommodations in addition to using scarce resources to pay for an abortion.

Women's Medical
Fund, Inc.

Women's Medical Fund, Inc., a non-profit, charitable organization, provides direct financial aid to Wisconsin women who are seeking to terminate an unwanted pregnancy and cannot afford the entire cost of an abortion. Since 1972, the Fund has helped poor women, some of whom have been raped, battered, homeless, disturbed, disabled, addicted or ill, or carrying deformed fetuses. Women and girls from age 11 to 44 have been helped--some with as many as 12 children. The majority of the unwanted pregnancies are the result of birth control failure.

Like all women, a poor woman has an abortion because she is trying to do her best for herself and her family. Her decision is based on the circumstances of her own life. The Fund does not question a woman's reasons for having an abortion; women seeking assistance only have to demonstrate financial need.

When money is available, the Fund usually grants or loans up to one-half the cost of an abortion, although in tragic cases more money is often granted.

Women who contact the Fund have already decided to have an abortion but are unable to pay for it. An application determines financial need and the woman is asked to pay as much as possible herself. Fund checks are made payable to the clinic or physician, after the abortion has been performed, to make sure the money is used for its intended purpose.

The Women's Medical Fund, Inc., is completely volunteer--no money is used for salaries, rent or overhead. Volunteers answer calls and respond to requests for assistance. Phone, printing, and postage costs are donated. Over 99.5% of all donations go to directly fund poor women's abortions.

Women's Medical
Fund, Inc.
needs your help

More poor women are requesting help. Several times a year the Women's Medical Fund, Inc., runs out of money and is forced to say no to requests for help. Money will run out even faster in the future because of the effects of Wisconsin's new restrictive welfare laws.

Your financial support can directly change the life of a woman in need and help ensure that every child is a wanted child.

Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to the Women's Medical Fund, Inc., today. Every $100-200 donation helps one needy woman. Your donation will be greatly appreciated and put to immediate use.

Women's Medical Fund, Inc., is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit charitable organization.

Thank you
for your generosity!

Board of Directors
Nora Cusack
Kathryn Elwers
Annie Laurie Gaylor
Elizabeth Uhr
Prof. Robert West

Administrator
Anne Nicol Gaylor

See Anne Gaylor's book Why Abortion? for stories of women helped by the Fund. Also see her 1975 book Abortion Is A Blessing.

I enclose my tax-deductible donation of $____________ for the Women's Medical Fund, Inc.

Please send to:

Women's Medical Fund, Inc.
PO Box 248
Madison WI 53701

Phone: (608) 256-8900
FAX: (608) 256-1116
Email: wmfwi@nnaf.org