Nisha Jackson, 33, took a pregnancy test at work in late November of 2025. When the test came back positive, she knew immediately that she would terminate the pregnancy.
She called her boyfriend and family members to let them know, and within hours of finding out, she began looking for ways to get the procedure.
She Googled “abortions in Maryland,” and Planned Parenthood of Baltimore appeared in the search results. In many other states in post-Roe America, this search would have been much different, perhaps including questions like: “Can I get an abortion in my state?” “Is anyone going to arrest me for needing an abortion?” and “Where can I get a safe abortion?”
But Jackson was able to book an appointment through the online scheduler for December 5, the earliest day she was available, and felt relieved at the ease of scheduling.
However, two days later, she got an email telling her the procedure would cost $1,200.
“‘Uh-oh!’ I said, ‘I don’t have $1,200! I’m going to need some money,” she told me with a laugh. She turned again to Google and typed in “funds for abortions.” The Abortion Fund of Maryland appeared in the search.
She called the fund that day and left a message, and called again two days later. They returned her call a couple of days after that, and Jackson missed it. She texted the number back immediately, and they coordinated securing her funding over text message.
“They asked if I had a job, if I had insurance, the appointment date, and the cost of the procedure.”
Jackson told them that she just needed $200, as she would be receiving her paycheck a couple of days before her appointment. But AFM offered to pay for her entire procedure because of a surplus in funds at the end of the year.
“Usually we can fund about 30% of the procedure’s cost, but we just happened to have a surplus at the end of the year,” Porsha Pinder, co-executive director of the Abortion Fund of Maryland, said in an interview.
“I had no idea there were resources to help with abortion access. It never crossed my mind to ever google something like that, but when I learned of the costs, the first thing I thought of was ‘funds’ because I needed money, and I found the Abortion Fund of Maryland,” Jackson recalled.
The fund coordinated with Planned Parenthood to ensure her procedure was covered, so Jackson was not responsible for any costs while at the clinic.
“I wanted to call to make sure, but it was real,” Jackson said.
After the procedure, she and her brother drove back to Lusby, Maryland, where she lives.
The Abortion Fund of Maryland is like this: They don’t ask for tax returns or other documentation proving need, and clients don’t have to stop by an office for an in-person interview. A transparent and nonjudgmental response to a need is welcome when abortion seekers hear that their abortion could be reported to law enforcement, see harrowing billboards that accuse them of making a wicked choice, and watch anti-abortion advocacy groups win in states across the country. Abortion seekers need a place to go and people to talk to for resources without interrogation, without shame, and with care, and AFM provides it.
About 60% of the people AFM helps are Maryland residents. Abortion is legal here, but legality is not the only barrier to accessing the procedure — most people are stopped by the expense.
“Abortion not always covered by insurance, and even when it is, there are deductibles and co-pays. Coupled with costs of transportation, it’s a service many cannot afford. Most clinics in Maryland are concentrated in the metro Baltimore and metro D.C. regions, so if someone is living in western Maryland or the Eastern Shores, sometimes it can take two to three hours to travel to a clinic,” said Lynn McCann-Yeh, co-executive director of the Abortion Fund of Maryland.
If there is a transportation gap, the Abortion Fund of Maryland lets the client decide how they want to get to their appointment, either by a ride they provide or on their own, regardless of their car’s condition.
“For example, if someone prefers to get to their appointment on their own but needs new tires, we’ve paid for tires. We’ve helped with rideshare to the DMV to get an ID renewed,” continued McCann-Yeh.
Volunteers help fill these transportation gaps. Julia Pergande, a volunteer with the Abortion Fund of Maryland since 2022, likes volunteering with the fund because of the way they prioritize the person.
“The Abortion Fund of Maryland focuses on what people need, and I think that’s a really important aspect of caretaking in this world and being a responsible community member,” Pergande said.
Pergande drives clients from their place of residence, or from a hotel if they are from out of state, to their appointments and back. Usually, the clients remain quiet in the ride postappointment, but Pergande recalls an experience with a client who wanted to talk about her religious upbringing and formerly being against abortions, but found herself in an unsafe relationship and needed the procedure.
“They chose to open up with me in the car. The client felt okay sharing that experience. It’s just a reminder that, you know, there’s no one type of person that may choose to seek out an abortion, it’s an important health care right,” Pergande explained.
“It’s just a reminder that, you know, there’s no one type of person that may choose to seek out an abortion, it’s an important health care right.”
Julia Pergande, a volunteer with the Abortion Fund of Maryland since 2022
The Abortion Fund of Maryland prioritizes client care by instructing volunteers to check their biases. Part of the volunteer training involved scenarios such as asking the volunteer how they would react if they helped someone who was visibly pregnant.
Maryland has one of the few clinics in the country that perform abortions after 24 weeks. That’s exactly what a woman from Minnesota, who requested anonymity to protect her privacy, needed when she discovered her child had a fetal health anomaly, tuberous sclerosis complex, or TSC.
“It can cause the baby to have a hole in their heart,” the woman told me. She discovered the condition while visiting her maternal-fetal doctors, who referred her to a fetal cardiologist. They found that her fetus had multiple tumors in the heart. She was then referred to a geneticist who confirmed that the fetus had TSC.
TSC is a debilitating condition that would require round-the-clock medical care, and the child is almost guaranteed to have additional neurological conditions such as seizures or autism. There is no cure for TSC.
“You have to watch your child be in pain,” the woman said. “It made me very sad to think that my child would end up suffering and dying prematurely if she made it to birth.”
After meeting with her geneticist and her maternal-fetal medicine doctor about her options and the health outcomes of her child, she decided to have an abortion at 33 weeks. But abortions weren’t available in Minnesota at that point in gestation. Before this, the woman hadn’t considered why someone would have an abortion later in pregnancy.
“It didn’t cross my mind that people could have an abortion later in gestation because of fetal anomalies,” she said.
The woman had spent most of her money prepping to be a mother, decorating a child’s room, and purchasing a year’s worth of clothing. When her maternal-fetal medicine doctor referred her to a clinic in Maryland, the procedure alone cost $20,000, in addition to flights, meals on the ground, transportation, and any other items they needed for her medical care for herself and her partner.
She got in touch with the Abortion Fund of Maryland and told them that she could pay $2,000 towards the procedure. AFM, along with several other funds in the country, crowdfunded to help her pay her expenses. She flew to Maryland and got the procedure done at a clinic in College Park.
“Both the clinic and the Abortion Fund of Maryland were very kind,” she said. “I was in shock, I was trying to make plans while grieving. I probably bawled through every conversation. They were nothing but supportive and kind, and didn’t make me feel like I had to come up with any funds, and managed everything else for me.”
The Abortion Fund of Maryland is supported by a number of grants as well as individual donations. From March to May, with a kickoff on March 5, AFM is hosting an annual Spring Fundraiser, the AFM Fund-a-Thon, where they ask community members to ask their friends and family to donate to the fund. Individual donations make it possible to help people like Jackson and the woman from Minnesota.
“I am grateful for the Abortion Fund of Maryland, as awful as the situation has been,” the woman from Minnesota said. “I made the best decision for my daughter. Everyone should be able to have the health care they need, and the doctors should be in charge.”