DENVER (AP) — A Colorado abortion fund said Thursday it’s helped hundreds access abortion in the first months of 2024, many arriving from Texas where abortion is restricted, showing a steady increase in need each year since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision left a patchwork of state bans, restrictions and protections across the country. In response, a national makeshift network of individuals and organizations help those seeking abortions in states where it's restricted, including the Colorado-based Cobalt Abortion Fund.
Cobalt provides financial support for both practical expenses, such as travel and lodging, and abortion procedures, and they operate from the Democratic-led state that has staunchly protected access to abortion, including for nonresidents.
Cobalt's aid has already jumped since Roe was overturned, from $212,00 in 2021 to $1.25 million by 2023. In Cobalt's latest numbers, the group spent $500,000 in the first three months of 2024 and predict spending around $2.4 million by the end of the year to help people access abortions. That would nearly double last year's support.
Over half of that 2024 spending went to some 350 people for practical support, not the procedure, and the vast majority of the clients were from Texas.
“There is this idea that the Dobbs decision and subsequent bans, due to trigger bans, created an increase in volume, and now maybe that volume has decreased or kind of stabilized. That is not the case,” said Melisa Hidalgo-Cuellar, Cobalt’s director.
“The volumes continue to increase every single month,” she said.
Hidalgo-Cuellar says the steady rise is partly due to more access to information on social media and new restrictions. Florida’s restriction went into effect last week and bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even know they are pregnant.
Colorado has pulled in the opposite direction, becoming a haven for abortion in a region of largely conservative states. Last year, the state passed a law that shields those seeking abortions, and those providing them, from prosecution in other states where it’s restricted, such as Florida.
Now, antiabortion activists are testing the boundaries of those bans in court. That includes a Texas man who is petitioning a court to authorize an obscure legal action to find out who allegedly helped his former partner obtain an out-of-state abortion.
Those out-of-state abortions are in part why Cobalt's funding for practical support — mainly travel expenses — exceeded it's aid for the procedure itself.
Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
FILE - Abortion-rights protesters march down Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, Texas following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Friday, June 24, 2022. A Colorado abortion fund said Thursday, May 9, 2024, it's helped hundreds access abortion in the first months of 2024, many arriving from Texas and other states where abortion is restricted, showing a continued increase in demand since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman via AP, File)
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the press with attorney Todd Blanche at his trial at the Manhattan Criminal court, Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in New York. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - People march through downtown Amarillo to protest a lawsuit to ban the abortion drug mifepristone, Feb. 11, 2023, in Amarillo, Texas. A Colorado abortion fund said Thursday, May 9, 2024, it's helped hundreds access abortion in the first months of 2024, many arriving from Texas and other states where abortion is restricted, showing a continued increase in demand since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (AP Photo/Justin Rex, File)
FILE - Attendees protest the one-year anniversary of Colorado's abortion law, the Reproductive Health Equity Act, Tuesday, April 4, 2023, outside the State Capitol in downtown Denver. A Colorado abortion fund said Thursday, May 9, 2024, it's helped hundreds access abortion in the first months of 2024, many arriving from Texas and other states where abortion is restricted, showing a continued increase in demand since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The most powerful Democrat in Congress on banking and financial issues called for President Joe Biden to replace the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Monday, saying the agency is broken and there must be “fundamental changes at the FDIC.”
This follows a damning report about the agency’s toxic workplace culture was released earlier this month and the inability of FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg to convince Congress in testimony last week that he is able to turn the agency around despite the report saying Greunberg himself was often the source of the problems.
“After chairing last week’s hearing, reviewing the independent report, and receiving further outreach from FDIC employees to the Banking and Housing Committee, I am left with one conclusion: there must be fundamental changes at the FDIC,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
Up until Monday, no Democrats had called for Gruenberg's replacement, although several came very close to doing so in their own statements. Brown's statement will likely lead to other Democrats to now call for Gruenberg's removal.
In his statement, Brown did not call for Gruenberg to be fired. He is in the middle of his six-year term as chairman of the FDIC and if Gruenberg were to step down, Vice Chair Travis Hill, a Republican, would lead the agency. Brown instead called on President Biden to nominate a new chair for the FDIC “without delay,” which the Senate would then confirm.
Republicans have been calling for Gruenberg to step down for some time. At Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. and the top Republican on the committee, detailed several stories of female FDIC workers who outlined extreme harassment and stalking by their coworkers, complaints that were dismissed by supervisors, according to the report.
“Marty — you’ve heard me say this to you directly — you should resign,” Scott said. “Your employees do not have confidence in you. And this is not a single incident. This spans over a decade-plus of your leadership at the FDIC.”
Scott, who called for Gruenberg to step down in December when the initial allegations were made public, is now calling for the Banking Committee to hold a separate hearing on the FDIC's workplace issues.
Gruenberg has been been involved in various levels of leadership at the FDIC for nearly 20 years, and this is his second full term as FDIC chair. His long tenure at the agency at the highest levels of power has made him largely responsible for the agency's toxic work environment, according to the independent report outlining the problems at the agency.
The report released Tuesday by law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton cites incidents of stalking, harassment, homophobia and other violations of employment regulations, based on more than 500 complaints from employees.
Complaints included a woman who said she was stalked by a coworker and continually harassed even after complaining about his behavior; a field office supervisor referring to gay men as “little girls;” and a female field examiner who described receiving a picture of an FDIC senior examiner’s private parts.
The FDIC is one of several banking system regulators. The Great Depression-era agency is best known for running the nation’s deposit insurance program, which insures Americans’ deposits up to $250,000 in case their bank fails.
Sheila Bair, who was chair of the FDIC through the 2008 financial crisis and was one of the most prominent voices from government at that time, posted on Twitter on Monday that it would be best for the agency if Gruenberg would step down.
“This controversy is hurting him and his agency. For his own sake and everyone at the FDIC, he should announce his intention to resign effective with the appointment,” she said.
AP Treasury Department Reporter Fatima Hussein contributed to this report from Washington.
FILE - Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing on improving rail safety in response to the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 22, 2023. The most powerful Democrat in Congress on banking and financial issues called for President Joe Biden to replace the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Monday, May 20, 2024, saying the agency is broken and there must be “fundamental changes at the FDIC.” (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Board of Directors Chairman Martin Gruenberg, testifies during the House Committee on Financial Services hearing on oversight of prudential regulators, Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The most powerful Democrat in Congress on banking and financial issues called for President Joe Biden to replace the chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Monday, May 20, 2024, saying the agency is broken and there must be “fundamental changes at the FDIC.” (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
