Suggested Script:
My name is _____ and I am a Fulton County resident. I live in District ______.
I am calling to urge you to support matching the City of Atlanta’s funding to ARC-Southeast, Georgia’s only abortion fund. Because of medically unnecessary and harmful abortion restrictions, working people in Fulton County are still struggling to access reproductive care. Please commit to protecting reproductive justice and abortion access by allocating at least $300,000 to ARC-Southeast, with no restrictions. Abortion is healthcare and a human right, and it’s your duty as a government official to lessen the immense burdens that come with seeking abortion care in our community.
Additional Talking Points:
- With Georgia’s 6-week abortion ban in place, people are more likely to have to travel out of state to access abortion care, which leads to additional expenses.
- There are only 15 clinics that provide abortions in Georgia. 95% of Georgia’s counties do not have an abortion clinic and 55% of Georgia women live in those counties, which means most Georgians must travel a significant distance to abortion providers.
- In the South, there are states with total abortion bans, six-week bans, 12-week bans, and 15-week bans (for now). All of these restrictions mean that people who need care beyond these thresholds will have to go further for care.
- People may have to travel as far as Maryland or DC, Illinois, or further away to places like New York.
- Research shows that 60% of people who have an abortion are already parents to one or more child, so childcare costs must also be factored in for those who are forced to travel to obtain an abortion.
- Georgia’s abortion bans have the most significant impact on already marginalized groups, specifically low-income people of color.
- We need to ensure that we can each get reproductive health care — such as birth control, pregnancy tests, prenatal care, and abortion — which is an important part of ensuring equal economic opportunities.