On April 5 and 6, over 300 people gathered to discuss reproductive issues at the Collective Power for Reproductive Justice conference at Hampshire College.

The conference featured lectures and workshops that covered a broad scope of issues including abortion restrictions, racism, eugenics and the far-right push for “more white babies.” Organizers shared a variety of resistance strategies, such as funding, ballot initiatives, information sharing and political dialogue.

According to Chancie Calliham, research analyst for Political Research Associates, at the opening plenary, the Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition has been able to escalate attacks on bodily autonomy through unique tactics, including the corruption of institutions like the U.S. Supreme Court.

During his first administration term, President Donald Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, giving it a 6–3 conservative majority. The court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling overturned the constitutional right to abortion which had been in place since Roe v. Wade in 1973.

“We’ve seen that billions of dollars, ultimately, over decades, have been poured into this super majority that we’re seeing on the court,” Calliham said. “There will be long term repercussions from that.”

Charlotte Isenberg was 20 years old when she was forcibly removed from her home and taken in for a psychiatric evaluation after religious zealots reported her for seeking an abortion last year in North Carolina, where the procedure is banned at 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Now 21 years old, Isenberg is an intern in the Collective Rising program for Collective Power, and is involved with her county’s Democratic Party and online activism.

“I’ve done a lot of sharing information for Plan C pills and self-managed abortions,” Isenberg said. “Because having had a self-managed abortion in a banned state, it’s really important to put out how to have an abortion, [and] how that can happen.”

At the workshop “From the Frontlines: How Abortion Funds are Navigating the Abortion Access Crisis,” leaders for various nonprofits who help with funding abortions for those who cannot afford them discussed strategies and the challenges since the Dobbs decision.

The funds operate call lines and telehealth, through which callers can acquire funding for abortion, travel costs, hotel rooms, wage replacements and abortion doulas. Several of the presenters mentioned being the sole person answering their fund’s line.

“When Roe [v. Wade] fell, we raised more money in one day than we had ever seen in our bank account up to that point,” Josie Pinto, co-founder and co-executive director of the Reproductive Freedom Fund of New Hampshire, said. Other presenters shared similar stories of “Roe rage money.”

However, after a few months, the post-Roe money dried up. The Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund (EMA) once had the capacity to fund a $22,000 abortion in Washington, D.C, according to Sarah Fitzgibbons, the organization’s community partnerships manager, EMA now has a weekly funding cap.

This does not mean that overall support has waned. The majority of the organizations represented at the workshop saw an increase in overall funds spent on abortion care from the 2023-2024 fiscal years. All of the funds raised over $100,000 in the last fiscal year, having become more robust in response to the increased need for since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision.

Out-of-state calls have increased since 2022. After Florida’s six-week abortion ban went into effect last May, the New York Abortion Access Fund saw a 460 percent increase in callers, according to intake coordinator Beans Fernandez. According to Fitzgibbons, EMA has had more callers from southern states like Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and states with longer appointment delays than Massachusetts, like New York.

Popular demand for an abortion can be seen not only in travel, but also in pushes for legalization at home. In 26 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C., citizens can use ballot initiatives to vote on issues that elected officials won’t address.

During the “Abortion Ballot Measures and the Ongoing Fight for Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice” workshop, Krystal Leaphart, senior policy associate for state partnerships at the Guttmacher Institute, said that since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, there has been an increase in citizen-led ballot initiatives.

In 2023, Ohio citizens initiated an amendment to codify the right to abortion in the state’s constitution, which voters adopted by a 56.78 percent majority.

Even in states where abortion is legal, the legality does not include everyone. According to Morgan Mitchell, legal access fellow for the Abortion Fund of Ohio, in 36 states, minors need parental consent or notification to access an abortion and must get a judge’s approval to avoid parental involvement.

In this process, known as judicial bypass, the minor must answer questions before a judge, who then decides whether the minor is mature and well-informed enough to receive an abortion.

Mitchell provides consultations to help teenagers become knowledgeable about abortions. “There’s just not a lot of people on their side,” Mitchell said. “And so, what drew me to the work was, I want to be that person on their side. I want to be a resource for them.”

Changing others’ attitudes is an important organizing strategy, according to Loretta J. Ross, feminist and antiracist academic, who gave the address “Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel,” after her book of the same name.

Ross criticized “call out culture,” or canceling, as counterproductive to enacting social change. Instead, Ross promoted “calling in,” a method which prioritizes changing perspectives and building alliances while including accountability.

Ross listed three kinds of allies, including proven allies and problematic allies. “But the biggest group of people is your potential allies,” Ross said.

“And if you dismiss your potential allies because you think they came too late, they didn’t wake up on time, they voted for Trump and now they regret it, I’m like, ‘But you’re dissipating your own power with your arrogance,’” Ross said.

At the workshop “Elon Musk Wants You to Have More Babies,” presenters explained how “techies” and “trads” are uniting through pronatalism, the pro-birth ideology which has been espoused by higher-ups in the Trump administration like Elon Musk and J.D. Vance.

Joe Padgett Herz, master’s student at the University at Albany, used the example of 28, an app which tracks users’ menstrual cycles and offers exercise regimens and emotional advice based on the day of the cycle.

The app was launched by the conservative women’s magazine, Evie, which was founded by model Brittany Martinez and her husband Gabriel Hugoboom. The platform is backed by billionaire venture capitalist, Trump donor and longtime J.D Vance mentor, Peter Thiel.

“Why would Peter Thiel care about a period tracking app?” Herz asked.

Herz explained that the acronym TESCREAL has been coined by philosopher Émile Torres and computer scientist Timnit Gebru to describe overlapping Silicon Valley philosophies about the fate of humanity which promote eugenics, space colonization and development of artificial intelligence. Adherents want white, non-disabled babies, Herz said.

Charlie Ambrose, master’s student at the University at Albany, linked recent deportations, forced student disappearances and Trump’s threat to end birthright citizenship to the much older Great Replacement theory, the white supremacist myth that the white population is being replaced by non-white immigrants.

Greater border security is one goal of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s collection of policy proposals authored mostly by members of Trump’s first administration and transition team.

“The thing I want to highlight is that Project 2025 immigration goals were actually less aggressive than what we are currently experiencing and seeing,” Ambrose said.

Attendees came to the conference from across the country. Julia Smith attended the workshop as a member of Portland Outright, a Maine-based grassroots organizing group directed by a Hampshire College alum. “I’ve found that the opposition research workshops that I’ve been to at Collective Power have been so informative and I always learn something new,” Smith said.

Joyce Follet, a western Massachusetts resident, said she has been attending the conference for “probably twenty years.”

“It’s a real shot in the arm every year,” Follet said.

“I think it’s a vital networking site for reproductive justice leaders around the country, and a community education site for those of us who come and go to sessions and learn what the most current issues and organizing campaigns are,” Follet said.

Charlotte Isenberg, who travelled to the conference from North Carolina, had a more urgent message. “Do keep the focus on banned states,” Isenberg said.

“There is organizing going on in the South, in states like North Carolina, even in Appalachia, where I’m from,” Isenberg said.

“I would like to just, remind everyone that there’s very real harm happening right now, and instead of freaking out about what might happen tomorrow, just try and fight the issues that we’re dealing with at the present moment,” Isenberg said.

Alexandra Rowe can be reached at [email protected].