Chicago Abortion Fund

Chicago Abortion Fund

Founded	1985
Founder	Deb B. – Catholic Women for Reproductive Rights Sarah Bornstein & Amy Laiken – Health Evaluation and Referral Service (HERS) Cathy Christeller – Women Organized for Reproductive Choice (WORC) Marge Cohen Isabella Danel Stacie Geller – Chicago Women’s Health Center Lenore H. D. – Illinois Pro-Choice Alliance Arden Handler Illinois NOW Kathy K. & Joan R. – National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Kim Kishbaugh Naomi Kistin Ann Krantz Madeline Levin Midwest Women’s Center National Lawyers Guild – Chicago Chapter Dolores Pino Rape Victims Advocates Joan Rappaport Jackie Schad Susan Schreiber Sherry Weingart
Type	501(c)3
Focus	Second Trimester Abortion Procedures, Reproductive Justice Framework
Location	Chicago, IL
Area served	Midwestern United States
Method	Financial Assistance, Public Education
Key people	Brittany Mostiller-Keith
Revenue	FY11 ending June 30, 2011 - $246,000
Slogan	Make Choice Possible
Website	www.ChicagoAbortionFund.com

The Chicago Abortion Fund (known colloquially as CAF) was founded in October, 1985 in Chicago, Illinois. Chicago Abortion Fund is a non-profit organization which provides medical referrals and funds to low-income women in need of safe abortion services. The group also engages and mobilizes low-income and poor women to become advocates for expanded reproductive access. This organization is affiliated with the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF).

The beginning of CAF was a movement and not a hierarchical beginning. Many played integral and supporting roles when the organization first began in 1985.

One such founder is known as Heather Booth, also a founder of the Jane Collective and the Abortion Seven – the women who, before abortion was legal, not only helped women obtain abortions but began to perform the abortions themselves. “Jane” (the Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s Liberation) began as an underground referral group. They did this illegal work so that women could have access to reproductive health services. In 1972, following the arrest of seven members of Jane, a defense committee was formed which became the Abortion Task Force (ATF). The charges against the Jane women were dropped following the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

In 1973, the Health Evaluation and Referral Services (HERS) was formed, in part, as an outgrowth of the ATF. HERS had been a work group of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU). At least one Jane woman had also been a member of the CWLU.

In October, 1996, Chicago Abortion Fund formed African American Women Evolving (AAWE). This group was later renamed as Black Women For Reproductive Justice (BWRJ).

In March, 2008, Chicago Abortion Fund started a public access television show called "The A Word" featured on television channel CAN-TV 21 and YouTube. The program's hosts discuss reproductive health and answer questions from viewers.

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Wikipedia