Removing Barriers to Access Bill Statement | Spring 2023

Carolina Abortion Fund, Alissa Ellis, Board Member

My name is Alissa Ellis and I am proud to be here speaking on behalf of the Carolina Abortion Fund. We are a nonprofit organization that provides funding and support for people seeking abortion healthcare in North and South Carolina.

When the Removing Barriers to Access Act was first introduced, a former Carolina Abortion Fund representative and colleague of mine noted that we have endured decades of attacks on abortion from the General Assembly and just how necessary the RGB act is to create access to abortion for folks in this state. 

That was almost two years ago, before the fall of Roe, before the 20 week ban, and before the very much needed nationwide public outcry for reproductive justice in our country. 

Here we stand today once again in honor of this progressive and necessary piece of legislation introduced by Senator Natasha Marcus and Representative Julie von Haefen that would remove unnecessary hurdles and barriers for abortion seekers in North Carolina.

As an abortion fund, the center of all of our work, is our callers. Every single day the Carolina Abortion Fund is funding, resourcing, and advocating with the people who are made invisible by regressive anti-abortion policies. 

We know intimately that many abortion seekers are already parents – parents who know what it’s like to be able to have a prenatal virtual check in and who can’t wrap their mind around why they can’t do the same for their abortion care. 

We know intimately how difficult it is for folks navigating North Carolina’s clinic deficit and to then have to manage repeat visits to clinics that are across the state – multiple counties and hours away. 

Make no mistake, our current laws were designed to undermine abortion, support the medical industrial complex, and not to help those who need access to healthcare services, like abortion. And we all know that the barriers created by our current laws disproportionately harm Black people and people of color who are seeking abortion in North Carolina.

At the Carolina Abortion Fund, we will continue to fight for reproductive justice, and we will take every opportunity to bring abortion access forward and uplift those who are harmed by our current laws.

In closing, thank you to Senator Natasha Marcus and Representative Julie von Haefen, and thank you to all of the North Carolinians who continue to raise their voice in the name of justice for all. 

Now I am pleased to turn the mic over to my dear friend Iliana, the executive director of El Pueblo and La Fuerza.