The National Abortion Federation (NAF) has announced a new self-serving plan to give out prepaid gas cards to help shuttle women to abortion facilities. The abortion industry is spinning the gas card program as a way to ensure reproductive “freedom” for women. In reality, it’s a way to keep these facilities in business as the number of abortions nationwide continues to fall and new restrictions are enacted.
The three-month pilot program will begin with a small amount of NAF-member abortionists located in states with few abortion facilities or with mandated waiting periods. Through NAF’s hotline, the cards will be distributed by The Dr. Tiller Patient Assistance Fund which exists to help cover travel-related expenses for abortion-minded women. Dr. Tiller was the late-term abortionist murdered in his church in 2009.
“We have already seen an increase in distance patients have had to travel to obtain the abortion care they need and expect this trend to only get worse,” said the Very Rev. Katherine Ragsdale — the Episcopal priest currently serving as the interim president and CEO of NAF. “[…] People believe that everyone should have the freedom to make decisions about their families and their reproductive health without government-mandated, medically unnecessary barriers.”
READ: 5 facts the media isn’t telling you about Planned Parenthood’s potential funding cut
Ragsdale’s comment highlights the fear that led to the gas card program. It’s not about women’s rights, it’s about profits — and there is a real concern that the abortion industry is going to lose big in the near future. A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health Care (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) states that if Roe v. Wade is overturned, increased travel distances to abortion facilities would prevent up to 143,561 abortions. At about $500 each, that could amount to a loss of over $71 million for the industry. Free gas cards are a small price to pay to keep the women coming into the facilities. And the program comes with the added bonus of projecting the image of caring about women.
Meanwhile, pro-life pregnancy resource centers consistently help women facing challenges during pregnancy by providing them with ultrasounds, baby gear, parenting classes, clothing, and even housing — all for free. They not only save lives but they save communities tens of millions of dollars through volunteers and donated items. Yet, the abortion industry calls them “fake” and “deceptive” because PRCs hurt their bottom line by helping women to choose life.
When it comes to the motives of groups like the National Abortion Federation, it always comes down to money. Abortion is their bread and butter and they will stop at nothing to ensure it remains easily accessible.
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