December 2010 eBulletin

The year is wrapping up but we’re gearing up! Help women needing abortions in Ireland afford Christmas presents this year. Check out the details for our next exciting event! bpas launches amazing videos on www.bpas.ie.

• Happy holidays from ASN!
• ASN prepares for our next year
• Women we’ve helped
• How you can help
• The next ASN event
• Shout out to clinics
• Abortion resources

Happy holidays!

All of us at ASN wanted to take the time to thank our friends, donors and supporters for all their help over the past year, and to wish you all a very merry, happy and healthy end of 2010.

Bring it on, 2011

As the end of the calendar year approaches, we’re excited about the forthcoming year. The members of our new Board are putting their heads together to come up with ways in which to raise more money. The comms team is hard at work designing a new website that we hope to have launch in early 2011. Charitable status is . . . almost . . . within . . .reach. And we’re all brainstorming ways to reach out to more referring agencies and women in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland who need our help. With all these new initiatives, this is the perfect time to get involved with ASN, so if you’re interested in helping out in any way, send us an email.

Woman we’ve helped

In November, we heard from a record breaking 13 women. We funded five women of them and provided hosting for three, including:

A 21 year old single parent of a baby who was unable to tell anyone in her family of her pregnancy but was able to raise £200 from friends. We were able to fund the balance of her procedure and received this grateful text from her: ‘everything went smoothly and I feel so much better. Thank you guys so much, really appreciate it. You guys are fab!’

A young girl who, in her initial email to us, said: “I’ll do anything not to be in this position right now, I’m in such a bad place and I don’t know what to do. I haven’t told anyone either and I don’t want to. I’ve no money or anything. didnt want to admit for ages that this was happening. Can you help? I’d rather be dead than to be in this position.”

A married mother of two young children with medical issues that made pregnancy risky.

A full time single mother of two in financial difficulty. Between money raised from friends and a grant from ASN, she was able to afford her flights and procedure. She called us after her procedure to say thank you, ‘I’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of support and you all have been part of that. You’re absolute stars!’

We also referred several women to Women on Web, including a 16 year old girl who had the support of her mother, and several women who had financial means who were calling for advice on how to organise an abortion in England, and heard back from a woman we helped last month, who had this to say:

‘[You] provided me with the financial and emotional support I needed during a difficult time and made things a lot easier for me.’

ASN thanks these women for sharing their stories with us, and for permitting us to share them with you.

How you can help

Since 1 October, we’ve heard from more than 20 women needing our support, given grants to 10 and hosted women for six nights. That’s almost a third of the number of women that we heard of all last year – in two months!

As you can imagine, the increased number of calls are straining ASN’s resources. We are also expecting an increase in calls in the first few months of 2011, when the numbers of abortions carried out tend to be at their highest.

Can you imagine not being able to afford to pay your heating bills or buy your children winter coats – because you needed the money to travel and pay for an abortion?

Are you interested in becoming more involved on a practical level? We’re looking for people to help in a number of ways.

Fundraising
Are you interested in fundraising for ASN? Let us know and also check out our Fundraising Toolkit here

Donate
Donations – via standing order, money transfer, PayPal or in the ASN bucket at one of our events – are urgently needed and gratefully received.

Every penny given to us by individual donors goes directly to help women.

If you have been thinking of making a donation, setting up a Standing Order, or telling your friends about ASN, now would be a great time to do so.

A donation or a standing order helps support women in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland who desperately need access to safe and legal abortions.

The next ASN event

Lights! Camera! Action! Did you ever want to be in a documentary film? Now’s your chance! Our next ASN Pro Choice Happy Hour will be a combination networking event, comedy show, and potential star maker! Long time activist Ann Rossiter will be performing her stand up comedy/performance “abortion monologue” entitled Making a Holy Show of Myself. A film crew making a documentary on Ann and the Irish abortion situation will also be there to film the proceedings. This is your chance to network with pro-choice people, have a laugh (who says abortion activism can’t be fun?) and be a part of an important film. This event will be held at the Punch Tavern in central London on Monday, 31 January from 7-10 pm. Admission is free!

Shout out to clinics

It’s not possible to say “Thank you” often or loudly enough to bpas, Calthorpe Clinic, Marie Stopes and South Manchester Private Clinic. Whether they are working with us to reduce fees or add appointments to the schedule for later term patients, they always do everything in their power to ensure that women from Ireland and Northern Ireland receive the most compassionate and professional care possible.

Abortion resources

Speaking of our clinics, have you seen the recent additions to the bpas website for women travelling for abortions? Check out these amazing and informative films: here (scroll down the page for links to short films for women about consultation, medical and surgical abortion).

And on the off chance that you are looking for more abortion-related news than our wonderful Hannah provides on Facebook Group and Twitter, check out Abortion Review by bpas.

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Thank you again for all your support. Without you, we wouldn’t have been able to provide information, accommodation and /or financial assistance to the more than 80 women in difficult circumstances who have contacted us.