Leave a Legacy for Reproductive Freedom
This fall, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota announced a first-of-its-kind reproductive health endowment in Minnesota. The Reproductive Freedom Fund will protect and resource organizations caring for communities across Minnesota, now and in perpetuity. As we have seen, we must make sure women have bodily autonomy under the law and in practice.
Through a generous $400,000 seed-funding gift from our longtime donor advised fund Midwest Legacy Fund, we have an opportunity to keep reproductive health care safe and legal and be a role model for the nation. Your planned gift has the power to protect the future of reproductive care in our state.
While Minnesota continues to have constitutional protections for safe and legal abortions, providers are already experiencing a significant influx of demand from neighboring states. Health care providers need our support. The Reproductive Freedom Fund will support reproductive health efforts and clinics across the state that are struggling to keep up with the increased demands for services as Minnesota has become a sanctuary state for abortion care in this region and across the country.
When women, girls, and gender-expansive people have access to safe and affordable reproductive health care services, they have better outcomes for healthy lives and pathways to prosperity. Research on economic disparities shows that families thrive when women and girls are healthy and well. We invest in reproductive justice as the foundation for living a safe and healthy life, which includes the right to bodily autonomy, to have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. The Women’s Foundation is dedicated to making sure Minnesotans and care providers have what they need to meet the moment, to anticipate the next, and to dream about what’s possible, safe, and sustainable.
Since 2020, health care providers in Minnesota are serving 30+% more patients for abortion. This increase is largely due to patients traveling from states with restrictive laws or bans. As our Status of Women & Girls+ in Minnesota research shows, Minnesota’s decline in rural obstetric services now outstrips the national average—with 42% of Minnesota counties lacking birth services. We continue to see unconscionable outcomes for pregnancy-associated deaths for Black and Indigenous Minnesotans. As we fight to increase access, we must also eliminate the disparities in health care for all people who give birth.
A $5 million endowment will allow the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota to grant $300,000 annually to organizations leading reproductive care across Minnesota. You can act now by making a planned gift to the Reproductive Freedom Fund. Gifts from your estate, including naming the Women’s Foundation as the beneficiary of appreciated assets like a trust, life insurance, or donor advised fund, benefit WFM for generations to come.
If you are interested in making a planned or major gift to the Reproductive Freedom Fund, please contact Polina Montes de Oca at 612-236-1834 or polina@wfmn.org.
