The popular crowdfunding site GoFundMe is taking a severe reaming after announcing that users will no longer be allowed to raise money to fund abortions.
The furor began when GoFundMe abruptly deleted the fundraiser for “Bailey,” a woman who wanted to end an unexpected pregnancy. Bailey told Vice that she had just moved from Phoenix to Chicago, was in massive debt, and complications from her pregnancy would have made it impossible for her to work even if she’d been able to find a job. However, on September 5, Bailey got an email from GoFundMe saying that her fundraiser had been deleted. After it received a large number of complaints about the fundraiser, GoFundMe reviewed it and found that it contained? “subject matter that GoFundMe would rather not be associated with.” However, GoFundMe did ultimately forward all of the funds raised for Bailey to her, even though it is not obligated to do so.
From the looks of it, those complaints came when the pro-life news site LifeNews.com got wind of it. It’s not clear what exactly caused the objections–whether it was the fact she was having an abortion or claims in the fundraising pitch that (according to Salon) Bailey wanted to be able to “pay rent, smoke cigarettes, drink rockstar, support her friends in prison, and if she’s really busted her a**, maybe to go to a show or two.” If it was the latter, there’s certainly no way you can defend those kinds of lifestyle choices.
What is clear, though, is that by Tuesday, GoFundMe had rolled out new content guidelines that spell out what types of fundraisers are banned on GoFundMe. You can’t argue with most of what’s listed–criminal acts, drugs, terrorism, Ponzi schemes, hate speech, etc. But one of the sections forbids any fundraisers related to “termination of life”–including abortion. That wording is identical to language used by anti-abortion activists. From where I’m sitting, it looks like because of one woman who seems to fit the stereotype used by abortion opponents (assuming that her boyfriend wasn’t joking), GoFundMe has punished all women who can’t afford to pay for an abortion.
NARAL has started a petition calling for GoFundMe to reverse its decision and allow women who otherwise can’t afford abortions to be able to fund them through GoFundMe. Sign here.
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Darrell Lucus, also known as Christian Dem in NC on Daily Kos, is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
