bowling for abortions

I just sent the following email to nearly everyone I know; since I know nearly everyone who visits this bl*g (if not personally then, you know, spiritually), you've probably read this. If so, donate twice. If not, here goes:

Dear friends and family,

If there's anything I hate more than fundraising, it's asking for money, but I'm writing to do just that: This weekend I'm participating in a bowl-a-thon to raise money for Vermont Access to Reproductive Freedom, a small, local nonprofit with a ridiculous acronym that helps women who can't afford it pay for abortions. They may not be as easy to love as homeless puppies or polar bears on melting icebergs, but I'd argue that abortions are just as important: not simply a woman's right to choose, but her ability to actually access an abortion if she needs one. And though Vermont is about as progressive as you're gonna get in this tea-baggin' country, it's also a poor, rural state. Elective abortions in Vermont cost between $250 and $1500; the average household income of VARF’s recipients is less than $10,000. So, as my friend Selene Colburn, who is VARF's board chair and really good at math, points out: “If the abortion costs $1,000, that’s ten percent of their average income—and in some cases that is more than these women earned in an entire year." Please consider making a donation, not to puppies or polar bears, but to a woman who will need help doing a very hard thing this year.

Thanks for your time, and if you're interested in making a donation, you can click here.

Your friend [and bl*g mistress, bitches!],
Kate