Colorado’s largest independent abortion fund, on track to spend $2.2 million this year helping people pay for abortions and the travel expenses to reach clinics, is for the first time capping the amount of financial assistance it can provide each month.
Cobalt Abortion Fund’s announcement comes after national abortion organizations cut back on what they contribute, a result of increased demand nationwide since the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Cobalt is capping its monthly spending on procedures at $85,000 and monthly spending for related expenses, including travel and meals, at $100,000. When the funds run out, people will be turned away and directed to other abortion groups across the country, said Melisa Hidalgo-Cuellar, the fund’s director.
In the first month of the new cap, the Colorado fund reached its max before helping everyone.
Cobalt went over its allotted cap to pay for procedures in July, spending $92,000, because appointments had already been scheduled through the end of the month when Cobalt learned that national groups were cutting back and that it would have to limit financial support. It ran out of its fund for travel, meals and other expenses a day too early, Hidalgo-Cuellar said.
“We got very little notification of these cuts,” she said. “We really had to scramble.”
In the past, Cobalt has raised enough money through donations to meet the need, even after states began restricting abortion access and requests for assistance more than tripled, to $737,174 in 2022, up from $206,511 the year prior.
But so many women are asking for help, especially from Texas, where abortion is banned, that the fund had to cap its support, Hidalgo-Cuellar said. Cobalt gets about 170 requests for assistance per week, up from about 25 per week two years ago.
“What we have seen is a nationwide crisis for local abortion funds,” she said. “We are seeing abortion-seekers turned away more than ever before.”
Colorado is one of few states without restrictions on when during a pregnancy a person can get an abortion. Abortions cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars for medication that terminates an early pregnancy to several thousands of dollars for more complex procedures.
Nearly all of Cobalt’s travel assistance is going to Texans
Several national groups, including the National Abortion Federation, announced in recent months that they were lowering their per-client contributions, which they send directly to clinics. Some dropped support to 30% of a patient’s bill, down from 50%. That increased pressure on local funds to pick up more of the costs, or put it on the patient.
“This crisis is not sustainable for local abortion funds and we need national funds to recognize the time to fund abortion is now,” Hidalgo-Cuellar said. “At the end of the day, when you are putting a cap per client, clients are not going to be able to access to abortion care.”
Cobalt helps pay for abortions in Colorado, via telehealth and in a few other states
Cobalt partners with 13 independent clinics that provide abortions as well as Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which has locations in Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada and New Mexico. The fund will also pay for telehealth appointments for people in early pregnancy who want medication abortions, and for procedures at two clinics in the Washington, D.C., area that provide abortions in all trimesters.
The new monthly cap was based on what the fund spent from January through March, which puts it on track to spend $2.2 million in 2024. Cobalt paid for $1.25 million in financial assistance in 2023.
So far this year, the fund has helped 1,388 people pay for abortions and 780 people pay for related expenses. On average, people receive about $300 to pay for an abortion and about $800 for other expenses, which can include child care and gas.