Grand Rapids abortion funds and providers see double-digit growth after Roe era

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Two years after a Supreme Court ruling abruptly ended 50 years of women’s freedom to choose their reproductive health care, organizations in Grand Rapids are bearing the consequences.

Michigan citizens responded by securing a constitutional right to abortion in the state, but access remains difficult for many due to distance and expense.

To help people get the medical care they need, Fountain Street Church’s Choice Fund continues its 55-year-old program of helping people seeking abortions in partnership with Planned Parenthood and independent clinics.

Last year, the Grand Rapids-area church reported an 18% increase in applications for financial assistance for abortions, from $4,370 in May 2023 to $9,800 in May 2024.

Barbara Reinoehl, co-chair of the Fountain Street Church Choice Fund, said they have already helped 104 people seeking abortions this year.

“We have noticed an increase in inquiries, but also an increase in the quantities required,” said Reinoehl.

The Choice Fund committee, which is funded entirely by private donations, awards the grants directly to the clinics. The average grant ranges from $50 to $400 for a procedure estimated to cost $600.

Reinoehl told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that this year was the first time they had been asked to cover the cost of medications delivered by mail and through telemedicine appointments.

“I think more and more people from out of state will come here because our state is so open to reproductive rights,” she said. “We’re trying to make Michigan a sanctuary for people from states with bans.”

Erica Shekell, communications director at Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said the number of out-of-state patients seeking abortions has tripled in the past two years.

With the sudden closure of the Heritage Clinic for Women last September, there are now only four clinics left in the state offering medical and surgical abortions, she said.

Related: Procedural abortions are possible again in Grand Rapids 7 months after the clinic closed

“It plunged West Michigan into an abortion access crisis,” Shekell said. “People who needed an abortion had to wait about two or three weeks to get an appointment, so care was delayed. It was just a huge domino effect.”

Planned Parenthood Kalamazoo was the only organization in West Michigan that still performed surgical abortions until the Reproductive Health Act took effect on February 13, 2024.

Overall, the increase in abortion care shows similar data to applications to the Fountain Street Church Choice Fund, with Planned Parenthood reporting a 21% change from July 2023, or a total of 14,718 medication and procedural abortions from its Michigan centers.

To meet the needs of the community, the organization aims to expand its services in Grand Rapids, bringing them on par with health centers in Flint, Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor, which can perform abortions by dilation and evacuation up to 19 weeks and 6 days of gestation.

“It’s extremely important that people get the abortion care they need in their communities,” Shekell said. “We’re excited to finally be able to offer care that follows best practices instead of repeating generic mandatory information that isn’t even accurate.”

The expansion of abortion care comes on the heels of the Michigan Court of Claims’ recent decision earlier this week that no longer requires the state to have a 24-hour waiting period for abortions.

Related: Michigan Court of Claims: No mandatory 24-hour waiting period for abortion

On June 25, the state court granted a request for a preliminary injunction declaring some of the state’s abortion laws unconstitutional, including the requirement to provide a provider with informed consent and the prohibition on anyone other than a physician performing abortions.

According to court documents, the consent form requires patients to sign a form at least 24 hours before the scheduled abortion acknowledging that they have read a “medically accurate depiction” of the fetus, a written description of the procedure, an informational pamphlet on prenatal care and child-rearing, and a summary on “preventing coerced abortions.”

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