Student crowdfunding $1million from pro-lifers to stop her having an abortion

A 26-year-old university student, who is allegedly seven weeks pregnant, is looking to raise $1m (£640,000) to stop her from having an abortion on 10 July.

That is the situation as described on a website published last month, written by the anonymous woman, who claims that the reason she is carrying out the crowdfunding campaign is to highlight the "backward direction this country is headed in terms of its treatment of women I feel is due in large part to the influence of the religious right disguised as the pro-life movement".

The woman says that if she raises $1m in the space of 72 hours, then she will cancel the abortion she has scheduled for 10 July. The campaign will begin at 12.01am EST (5.01am GMT) on Monday 7 July.

IBTimes UK has been unable to verify the claims made by the woman. The page features a PayPal donate button and we have contacted PayPal to ascertain if it is aware of the campaign and if such a campaign would be within its terms and conditions. At the time of publication we have not had a response.

Refund

The woman says that should the $1m fundraising goal be reached she will put the entire amount in trust for the child, which they will receive when they turn 21. She says the child will be put up for adoption when it is born.

If the fundraising total is not made, the woman claims she will refund all those who donated. It is this aspect of the campaign which has drawn the most concern from people online, who claim it is a scam.

The woman, who is currently enrolled in a graduate program, says the state where she is living has recently passed "extremely restrictive abortion laws that impose unnecessary waiting time to get an abortion and attempt to enforce rules that bypass the doctor/patient privacy privilege".

She says that if she is to have the abortion, it will be in her home state where she will travel on 10 July.

Speaking about pro-life campaigners in the US, she says that if every one of the 157 million Americans that "identify as pro-life" donated, then it would equate to less than one cent each to prevent this abortion.

"The pro-life movement cares very little about saving lives and far more about controlling women by minimising their choices in a wide variety of ways, not the least of which is readily available reproductive health care."

While there are no recorded efforts to crowdfund preventing an abortion, there have been incidents where women have crowdfunded to have an abortion. Back in September 2015 a 23-year-old woman from Chicago called Bailey begun a campaign called: "Stop Bailey from breeding fund", which was seeking $2,500 to have an abortion.

The page was subsequently removed by GoFundMe before the campaign ended.