Whole Woman’s Health Alliance has a robust history of projects and initiatives in support of abortion access and eradicating the stigma around abortion. Some of these projects have included:
Abortion Wayfinder Program
Since Roe v Wade was overturned by the Dobbs decision in 2022, access to safe abortion care relies heavily on where a person lives. In the days and months following Dobbs, many abortion seekers needed help traveling for care. To support our communities in states where abortion was banned or heavily restricted in the wake of Dobbs, WWHA created the Abortion Wayfinder Program: a dedicated phone line staffed by compassionate, knowledgeable personnel who helped patients find the care they needed. Since the time we founded the Wayfinder program, new organizations have stepped into this space, providing logistical and practical support for abortion seekers. We routinely work with these organizations to help our patients find the care they need and deserve.
While operational, the Wayfinder Program helped patients schedule in-clinic appointments at a Whole Woman’s Health or Whole Woman’s Health Alliance clinic in Maryland, Minnesota, Virginia, or New Mexico, or schedule a Virtual Care visit via telemedicine in Illinois, New Mexico, Virginia, Minnesota, or Maryland. Wayfinder staff also helped connect people with resources to help with the cost of care and travel, answered questions, and provided accurate information regarding procedural abortion and medication abortion.
The Wayfinder service was free of charge and open to all. We never turned our back on anyone who wanted or needed safe, compassionate abortion care. If you need support or help finding care, please call us now at 877-808-1045.
Clinic Murals
With the support of Abortion Conversation Project and #ShoutYourAbortion, we selected artists to design and paint murals at the now-closed Whole Woman’s Health clinics in McAllen, TX and Fort Worth, TX that embodied the values and messages critical to women’s empowerment and reproductive freedom. We specifically asked for designs containing the concepts of unity, peace, justice, diversity, gender equality and feminism.
Local Rio Grande Valley artist Corina Carmona designed and painted her mural in 2015 at Whole Woman’s Health of McAllen, and Seattle-based muralist Angelina Villalobos Soto designed and painted her mural at Whole Woman’s Health of Fort Worth in 2017. Both murals conveyed a welcoming and inviting feel – one that comforted all those who came to the clinic and reminded them of love and acceptance. Similarly, we wanted the murals to send the message to members of the community: “When you come here, bring only love.”
Clinic Blessings
In collaboration with local faith leaders and community members, we hosted clinic blessings onsite at our clinics–an initiative we plan to do in the future as well. Clinic blessings are joyful events at which clergy from a wide range of faith traditions perform a blessing of the clinic space, clinic staff, the patients we serve, and the work that we do. Members of the press are also invited, and blessings are often covered in local media outlets.
Just as the majority of Americans support the right to an abortion, the majority of those who consider themselves religious also support abortion rights. Many of our patients consider their spiritual beliefs and religious traditions when deciding to end a pregnancy, and clinic blessings help tell that story: by hosting a public clinic blessing, we help reclaim the narrative around abortion and faith.
