Local abortion fund gets boost from post-election donations

It's not just national organizations like Planned Parenthood getting a boost in donations over worries about access to reproductive health care.

So is the grassroots Seattle-based CAIR Project. It helps people across the Northwest pay for abortion services and connects them with the closest provider that offers abortion services.

Co-president Trina Stout said they've received more than $3,000 in the last week, including a couple of $1,000 donations, and that's big for the small nonprofit.

Stout said when the organization's money runs tight, some clients have had to delay their abortion services.

Stout: "And it is to awful to have to tell a woman to reschedule her appointment, to tell her that she has to be pregnant longer than she wants to be. So this increase in funds will help more people access safe abortion care."

Forty-four percent of the CAIR Project’s money goes to people getting abortion care in Washington, but the organization also gets a large number of calls from Idaho.

Idaho has four clinics that provide abortions. Abortion services come at a higher cost in Idaho than in states like Washington. For one, private insurers in Idaho require a separate premium to cover abortions, and Idaho's Medicaid withholds coverage of abortion care.

Stout thinks the new donations are from people concerned about possible changes to reproductive rights. President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to appoint a Supreme Court justice in favor of new restrictions and who would support overturning Roe v. Wade.