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After a virtually two-year search, the Nationwide Abortion Federation has discovered a brand new chief. The group introduced at present that Brittany Fonteno will turn out to be its president and CEO as of September 1.
Based in 1977, NAF is the nation’s main skilled group for abortion suppliers and counts a whole bunch of suppliers, clinics, and different services as members. The nonprofit presents coaching, technical, and safety help to members, and it creates medical tips for abortion care which are extensively thought-about to be a gold normal.
NAF additionally operates the Nationwide Abortion Hotline, which connects callers to care and monetary help, serving to to cowl abortion prices by pledging funds for a affected person’s care on to the clinic or supplier. The NAF Hotline Fund is likely one of the largest sources of abortion funding in the US.
NAF’s earlier CEO, Katherine Ragsdale, stepped down in late 2021. This left the group with no everlasting chief within the aftermath of the 2022 Supreme Court docket choice overturning Roe v. Wade. Fonteno, who started working in reproductive and sexual well being as a peer educator at age 19, can be simply the seventh individual to guide NAF since its founding. She would be the group’s first Black CEO, and takes the helm within the midst of unprecedented upheaval within the U.S. abortion entry panorama.
As information of Fonteno’s appointment circulated amongst NAF members, Rewire Information Group was contacted on Wednesday by sources who expressed concern about the truth that Deliberate Parenthood Arizona just isn’t a member of NAF and was not throughout her tenure there. Fonteno declined to remark.
“It’s a extremely difficult time throughout the motion, but it surely’s additionally a time crammed with alternatives,” Fonteno advised Rewire Information Group in an earlier unique interview previous to the general public announcement. The dialog has been flippantly edited for size and readability.
Rewire Information Group: So, Brittany, you’re coming to NAF most not too long ago having been president and CEO of Deliberate Parenthood Arizona. Previous to that, you labored for Deliberate Parenthood in New England, however I additionally see that you’ve some expertise extra on the grassroots facet of the reproductive well being, rights, and justice motion, akin to being a board member for the New York Abortion Entry Fund. What drew you to work within the motion within the first place, and what attracts you to this place with NAF now?
Brittany Fonteno: It’s actually my lived expertise as a queer, Black girl of religion, and extra not too long ago as a mom, that has drawn me to my work in reproductive well being, rights, and justice. My household has been on this nation for generations and has skilled a cycle of generational poverty, which plenty of Black and brown households have skilled. My dad and mom, fortunately sufficient, had been capable of escape of that cycle of poverty and provides me a unique life than what they’d. They grew up within the segregated South and in Brooklyn, earlier than it was gentrified. A really totally different Brooklyn. They usually had been capable of give me entry to well being care, and schooling, and alternatives. And I noticed well being inequities play out in my circle of relatives; for instance, my cousins who didn’t have the identical alternatives that I had, who skilled unintended pregnancies at a younger age, or weren’t capable of proceed with their schooling.
Once I went to school in Washington, D.C., that’s the place my political activism began. I grew to become a peer educator on my faculty campus and a campus organizer targeted on sexual and reproductive well being, rights, and justice. I fell so deeply in love with this work, and I knew from a fairly early age that I wished to pursue this as my profession. I might inform my mother that I wished to be knowledgeable feminist. And she or he was like, “How are you going to repay your scholar loans by being knowledgeable feminist?” Fortunately, I used to be capable of finding a means. I began off working at smaller nonprofits that had been led by and devoted to girls of colour. I labored on the Nationwide Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, and I served on the board of administrators for the New York Abortion Entry Fund, the place I did case administration and abortion funding for a few years.
In newer years, after doing this work for over a decade, I’ve had my very own expertise with having an abortion in a really hostile atmosphere. Changing into a mom for the primary time after which having an abortion actually simply solidified the work that I had already been doing. It made me a fair stronger advocate for abortion entry and reproductive freedom.
As you talked about, you’ve gotten plenty of expertise working inside organizations which are led by folks of colour. NAF has traditionally been a white-led group, which is one thing it has confronted criticism for. What does it imply to you to step in as the primary Black chief of NAF?
BF: It’s such an unimaginable honor to step into this position as the primary Black girl to guide this group. NAF performs such a crucial and important position within the wider motion by unifying abortion suppliers, and I really feel that it’s an important privilege to be on the helm, representing abortion suppliers and attempting to function a unifying pressure throughout the NAF federation. It’s a extremely difficult time throughout the motion, but it surely’s additionally a time crammed with alternatives.
I’ve been doing this work since I used to be 19, and to see the change in management inside this motion begin to replicate extra individuals who seem like me, in addition to people who find themselves most impacted by abortion and abortion bans, has been so unimaginable. Clearly, the reproductive justice motion actually sprung up in response to predominantly white areas, and predominantly white repro areas particularly. I attempt to do my work from a reproductive justice lens. I’ve at all times felt very strongly that there’s no choices about us, with out us, and that we’re those who ought to lead our communities ahead on this historic second in time.
The final yr has been terribly troublesome, to say the very least. It is a massive query, however what are a couple of main priorities that you’ve for NAF shifting ahead over, let’s say, the following yr?
BF: Firstly, my prime precedence is to work to unify all abortion suppliers inside this area, understanding that we’re on this new panorama that’s continuously evolving, that’s actually chaotic. There is no such thing as a time like now to face collectively and combat again by offering and increasing entry to abortion care. I can’t consider a extra revolutionary factor for us to do as a company and as a motion. And so, in unifying abortion suppliers, I actually need to guarantee that we’re making certain true abortion entry for all folks.
A second precedence could be to extend funding for sufferers on the hotline. After the Dobbs leak and within the direct aftermath of the choice, there was a surge of funding within the type of rage donations. Many organizations have skilled that actually lowering. However the want is bigger now than it was a yr in the past, as a result of increasingly states have been persevering with to claw again entry. And so, I actually need to spotlight the true tales of devastation that individuals are experiencing, and have the ability to improve funding in order that individuals are capable of get the care that they want.
I additionally need to strengthen the help that NAF supplies to folks on the entrance traces by way of our coverage and safety work in order that they’ll present professional and equitable abortion care. The very last thing that I’m actually excited about is attempting to chop by way of the entire political rhetoric and actually middle the dialog on abortion, on sufferers and suppliers. After we take out the entire politics and we recenter on well being care, and other people’s our bodies, and their lives, we’re capable of join with folks differently, and actually elevate up and elevate the true lived experiences that individuals are having on this disaster second.
Talking of lived experiences, you talked about that you simply your self had an abortion that happened in a hostile atmosphere. Is there something extra that you simply’re prepared to share about that have?
BF: Positive. I had an abortion, and it was in Arizona, the place I at the moment stay. It was a really a lot wished being pregnant. Sadly, I went to the physician for the standard checkup in my second trimester, and there was no heartbeat. And I used to be fully devastated. I requested the physician what my choices had been, and he mentioned my solely choice was to both induce labor and ship, or to journey to California to get some form of obscure well being care that he wouldn’t outline. I knew, clearly, from my work that these weren’t my solely choices. And so I saved pushing, and particularly asking a few D&E [dilation and evacuation], and he mentioned that that simply wasn’t an choice in Arizona. I do know that it’s. After he denied me my proper to well being care, I used to be capable of entry an abortion domestically by way of one of many wonderful suppliers right here.
This was within the direct aftermath of Roe being overturned, and my expertise was crammed with compassion and professional care, throughout what was essentially the most heartbreaking time in my life. So I do know each from a supplier and a affected person perspective how crucial abortion care is to individuals who want it.
Thanks for sharing that. Altering gears barely, I’m wondering what you assume being a NAF member ought to imply. What would you need it to indicate to sufferers and to different folks within the area, {that a} clinic or a supplier is a NAF member?
BF: Oh, that’s a extremely fantastic query. The very very first thing that involves my thoughts is that, when sufferers or folks in the neighborhood see {that a} supplier is a NAF member, they know certainly that they’ll go to that clinic and obtain professional, compassionate, evidence-based care. That they’ll be taken care of, that their wants can be met in a means that’s patient-centered, and that they received’t have doubts about their choice to go there. I might need for suppliers to take a look at NAF and say, “Yeah, they’re utilizing the latest proof and data to guarantee that this care just isn’t solely accessible, however equitable.” And I might need for folks within the broader group to see NAF as a powerful group of suppliers and advocates for abortion entry. These are my preliminary ideas, however I’m positive that may proceed to evolve as I step into the position.
As you talked about, one of many actually essential issues that NAF does is create and disseminate medical tips for abortion suppliers. I do know that this generally is a delicate topic, as a result of the anti-abortion motion desires to painting abortion as harmful, and we all know that it isn’t. However I’ve reported on conditions the place there have been considerations that sure suppliers or services weren’t following NAF tips.
I’m not going to ask you to touch upon something that occurred earlier than you had been working for NAF, however I’ve heard from some medical staff that they want for there to be a extra formalized course of for folks to report considerations like this to NAF. Is that one thing that you’d be excited about implementing?
BF: Since I haven’t fairly stepped into my position but, I might actually need to have the ability to totally perceive the entire totally different views about this concern. What I do know now’s that, as you talked about, NAF’s medical guideline insurance policies are actually a trademark of a profit that NAF presents. It’s one thing that units our suppliers aside, having the ability to present that evidence-based care. So what I might concentrate on is ensuring that we proceed to offer top-of-the-line info to suppliers in order that they’re able to serve sufferers in a means that’s professional and compassionate. I would wish extra time to actually perceive the entire totally different elements at play, however that may be my final aim.
One other phrase that has come up once I’ve spoken with suppliers about their experiences working with NAF, particularly within the final yr, is “dysfunction.” Numerous suppliers are feeling that there’s been inner disorganization that has resulted in them not at all times getting the help they want, or not receiving funds which have been pledged to them in a well timed vogue. Are there any particular issues that you simply’d like to handle or change when it comes to how NAF communicates with or helps suppliers?
BF: Since I haven’t stepped into the position but, I can’t communicate on to inner operations and workings of the group. However what I can say is that this has been a extremely complicated and chaotic time for everybody who’s working throughout abortion rights and entry. All organizations, together with NAF, I do know, are attempting to simply do our greatest to maintain up with a—generally each day—quickly evolving authorized panorama that has a direct impression on our operations. I feel my focus could be to guarantee that I might be a stabilizing pressure, each internally inside NAF in addition to all through the federation.
We have now an opposition that’s extremely well-organized and really savvy. I hate to offer them any form of praise, but it surely’s true. This atmosphere of chaos [is one] that they’ve created, and that our organizations are reacting to. I feel it’s essential that we place the blame the place it’s, and it’s with anti-abortion extremists. So I hope to be a stabilizing pressure, as a result of we all know that this chaos and confusion is simply going to proceed.
I’ve heard from so many abortion funds that a lot of their callers now want hundreds of {dollars} with a purpose to get their abortions, quite than a couple of hundred. NAF performs an enormous position in masking the price of abortion care, however more cash is required now than prior to now, and much more is prone to be wanted as extra states ban abortion. What does a sustainable funding mannequin for a company like NAF seem like? What are your objectives when it comes to fundraising?
BF: That may be very a lot prime of thoughts for me. I feel that one of many largest issues that we have to do at NAF, but in addition throughout the motion, is proceed to share tales of sufferers and suppliers. I feel that when the media strikes on to the following massive story, we have to not step again and be okay with that, as a result of we’re seeing the true life impression, the devastation, play out each day, and we shouldn’t be the one ones to witness folks’s tales in the event that they need to share them. So I feel that making a extra strategic and cohesive ongoing fundraising plan can be very prime of thoughts.
I additionally need to see if we will faucet into extra folks exterior of the motion. Fascinated about companies and firms, particularly after 2020, their workers have demanded that they take a stand in several methods. And taking a stand by saying some good phrases is one factor, however taking a stand together with your actions is one thing totally different. I might additionally like to get a greater understanding from NAF workers and members of what their concepts could be about how we proceed to evolve the fundraising mannequin to guarantee that there’s monetary sustainability each for NAF and for the suppliers and sufferers.
One other factor that NAF does is monitor anti-abortion violence and seek the advice of with clinics on security and safety. I’ve reported on clinic violence quite a bit through the years, and one thing that I’ve heard from plenty of suppliers and escorts is that they’re actually excited about looking for methods to handle anti-abortion violence that don’t essentially contain policing, as a result of seeing police exterior of clinic doesn’t at all times make sufferers, particularly folks of colour, really feel safer. There are additionally plenty of documented cases of police being brazenly sympathetic to anti-abortion protesters. I do know that at one level NAF was working with a committee of abortion suppliers of colour to consider this. Is that this one thing that could be a precedence for you?
BF: Completely. Security has at all times been a prime concern in abortion work, even earlier than the overturn of Roe. There’s at all times been a component of danger and hazard on this work. And naturally, that has solely elevated for the reason that Supreme Court docket’s choice, and much more so in states which have banned abortion. I feel that it’s extremely essential to guarantee that suppliers and sufferers really feel secure after they’re offering and receiving well being care.
As a group, NAF is well-positioned to have the ability to assume by way of what totally different choices might be for security. I’m excited to have the ability to collaborate with member suppliers and workers, and take into consideration what the most effective options may seem like. I feel it in all probability seems to be totally different for various suppliers in several communities. I feel being responsive culturally, and to the group that suppliers are in, could be a prime precedence in enthusiastic about security considerations.
Just lately, the Nationwide Consuming Problems Affiliation shut down its helpline after 20 years of operation, and transitioned to utilizing an AI chatbot referred to as “Tessa” to answer individuals who reached out for assist. Fairly rapidly, there have been stories that the chatbot was giving dangerous recommendation, and it was suspended. This story made lots of people nervous that one thing related may occur within the abortion entry realm on condition that NAF and different organizations, like abortion funds, rely closely on hotlines. Beneath your management, would NAF ever think about using AI to answer callers?
BF: Oh, that’s an fascinating query. I really feel like I’m positively behind on actually understanding AI. Possibly I’m a nasty millennial in that respect. However I feel that nothing can actually exchange the connection and the connection of two people attempting to assist one another entry a human proper. I do know from my very own expertise with abortion funding that the connection that it’s important to the individual on the opposite facet of the road just isn’t one thing that I feel might be simply replicated by expertise. I feel expertise might help us in plenty of methods, and I’m very excited about and curious to see how expertise may assist us turn out to be extra environment friendly. However I don’t at the moment foresee AI taking up the human connection.
Talking of people, and particularly the employees who energy the hotline, these staff fashioned a union a couple of years in the past. Initially, NAF actually fought the unionization effort earlier than in the end recognizing and bargaining with the union. I will even disclose that, as a Rewire Information Group worker, I’m a member of that very same union, the Washington-Baltimore Information Guild. Are you dedicated to working with the union?
BF: Sure, completely. I respect staff’ rights to have the ability to manage and to kind unions, and would in fact collaborate within the applicable methods to guarantee that union workers and all workers be ok with their work at NAF, and really feel that NAF is a superb place to work.
Nice. As states have banned abortion, and with extra states probably to take action within the subsequent yr, there are a variety of clinics in ban states which are attempting to remain open though they’ll now not present abortion care. One of many crucial issues these clinics are offering is follow-up take care of individuals who have to go away the state for an abortion after which return residence. Are there any ways in which NAF may contemplate supporting these clinics to try to assist them keep round, though they don’t seem to be straight offering abortion care anymore?
BF: Since I haven’t stepped the position but, I don’t know that I can remark straight on that, however what I can say is that I feel we’re all going to need to be open to evolving what our practices are, and the way we present up and help suppliers and sufferers on this new world that we’re residing in. As you mentioned, there’s important care that’s being supplied in ban states by consultants who is probably not legally capable of present abortion care. And so I might positively need to perceive what their perspective is, perceive what workers’s perspective is, after which collaboratively decide on that.
One other factor that NAF got here underneath hearth for, significantly after SB 8 went into impact in Texas, was that plenty of suppliers wished to defy that legislation, however had been advised by NAF that they’d lose their funding in the event that they did. Equally, many suppliers and funders had been pissed off by NAF’s choices concerning funding in states the place abortion bans had been briefly blocked, in addition to different NAF insurance policies they see as unnecessarily restrictive. Is that this one thing you’re excited about wanting into as the brand new CEO? Might NAF contemplate taking a extra legally aggressive stance, so to talk?
BF: I feel that this is a vital query, and I don’t have the entire solutions as a result of I wasn’t at NAF when [those decisions were made]. What I do know is that NAF, like each different reproductive well being group, has been navigating a extremely chaotic and merciless patchwork of anti-abortion legal guidelines which have been designed to maintain folks from having the ability to get the care that they want, and to make suppliers terrified of offering this important well being care. NAF’s precedence has at all times been to work carefully with suppliers and clinics which are on the entrance traces to make sure that they’ll proceed to offer important care to as many sufferers as doable.
I feel that, general, we’re going to proceed to see plenty of unprecedented occasions play out legally. And our duty is to do our greatest to navigate this atmosphere that has been created by anti-abortion extremists, retaining on the middle the suppliers that we serve and the sufferers that they take care of.
I’ve to imagine that, having labored within the motion for a very long time, you already know plenty of abortion suppliers. But it surely’s an enormous nation. What’s your plan to your first couple of months on the job when it comes to speaking to folks and determining what the present wants are amongst NAF members?
BF: I feel my prime priorities are actually to hear and study, before everything. I do have a protracted historical past on this motion, however I’m coming into NAF new and contemporary, in a means, and I would like to have the ability to hear and study from workers, and from the suppliers which are on the bottom. As an abortion supplier, I’ve one expertise, however as I discussed, with this patchwork of insurance policies throughout the nation, I’m positive each supplier is having a unique expertise. I need to hear and study from their experiences and experience. I need to construct genuine relationships with folks, as a result of that’s how I feel that we will greatest come collectively, unify, and create this group that I wish to see for NAF.
I might love to go to the unbiased well being facilities and actually get a way of what their day-to-day experiences are like and the challenges that they’re going through. I may additionally see doing city halls, whether or not they’re in individual or digital, and, in fact, one-on-one or small group conferences simply to create alternatives for connection. From there, having hopefully constructed a powerful basis, my hope is that I can be well-positioned to guide NAF into the longer term.
I’m glad you talked about unbiased suppliers, as a result of as I’m positive you understand, unbiased abortion clinics usually have quite a bit much less funding and help for the challenges that they encounter. Particularly proper now, when abortion bans are pushing many individuals later into being pregnant than they wished to have their abortions, unbiased clinics are offering the vast majority of these later abortions. By way of clinics that present third trimester care, it’s solely unbiased suppliers. Is supporting these unbiased suppliers a precedence of yours?
BF: Completely. Impartial suppliers play such a novel and important position in abortion entry and provision. I need to guarantee that all NAF members really feel supported. I feel a part of utilizing an equitable strategy to this work is what these particular and particular person wants are, after which having the ability to reply to them.
The final query I’ve for you is about sustainability. We talked about sustainability when it comes to funding, however one thing that lots of people are speaking about proper now’s burnout. It’s extremely troublesome to have any sort of position in abortion care or abortion entry proper now, as a result of the work is so laborious. Persons are experiencing torturous issues, and staff within the motion are absorbing these tales and people experiences from sufferers.
I’m interested by the way you hope to take care of your self on this position, and if there are any concepts you’ve gotten about belongings you’d wish to implement inside NAF to assist workers, particularly those that are answering calls on the hotline, to take care of themselves and guarantee that they’re not getting burned out and dropping their capacity to do that work?
BF: Oh my goodness, that is so actual. The previous a number of years doing this work have been so extremely laborious, on a stage that I feel many individuals didn’t anticipate. It has actually, at occasions, been traumatizing, particularly for these of us who’ve these private connections or lived experiences with this work. Lots of people come to this work as a result of they’ve some form of intimate connection to it. So I feel that it’s actually essential to attempt to make abortion work as sustainable as doable, as a result of creating this atmosphere of unsustainability, once more, is a tactic of the opposition to drive folks away from doing this work.
It’s very prime of thoughts for me to guarantee that NAF workers and members really feel that the work is sustainable, that they do really feel supported, in order that they’ll do their work each day. Total, burnout options are usually not one-size-fits-all. For myself, attempting to take intentional time to reconnect with my family members and reconnect with the issues that fill my cup, like dancing, touring—issues like that assist. I might actually need to perceive what workers and suppliers really feel are the largest contributors to burnout and listen to what significant options may seem like, after which attempt to attempt to work in collaboration with folks to create some options to burnout.
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