Krystal Pence
Ali Muldrow, full-time executive director of the Women's Medical Fund.
After the "Dobbs" decision, says Ali Muldrow, above, 'there was a necessary shift towards really wanting abortion access to be bigger and louder and prouder.'
Ali Muldrow has never been quiet about something that others are often reluctant to talk about: she chose abortion twice to end unplanned pregnancies.
The first time, at age 16, Muldrow sought permission from a judge for an abortion. Under Wisconsin law, minors must have parental consent or seek a judicial bypass to get an abortion. Through Planned Parenthood, Muldrow connected with the Women’s Medical Fund, now known as WMF Wisconsin.
She says she remembers everything about the call she made to the group. “They asked me all kinds of questions about my plans for contraceptives [and] about my income. I had a job at KFC at the time. They determined that I could pay for a portion of the cost, given the $5.75 an hour I was making. They gave me $200.”
For more than five decades WMF Wisconsin, based in Madison and run largely by volunteers, has been quietly assisting women like Muldrow who need financial assistance to pay for abortions. The nonprofit is now looking to expand its reach by hiring its first full-time staff member, an executive director. Muldrow, a member of the Madison school board and the former co-director of GSAFE, which supports LGBTQ+ youth in schools, started the job Sept. 25.
Her goals include making sure that anyone who needs support to have an abortion has the resources that they need — “If a person determines for themselves that abortion is the right option for them, that we as an organization eliminate any barriers to that option, proactively.”
Muldrow says she will lead fundraising efforts and handle outreach for the group. Noting the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, she says the time is right for WMF Wisconsin to ramp up operations.
“I think the Dobbs decision really forced abortion access advocates to reconsider the way we had approached supporting people who are pursuing an abortion. One of the things abortion supporters are recalibrating around is our own shame and stigma related to abortion and what that has meant for people pursuing an abortion. I think there was a necessary shift towards really wanting abortion access to be bigger and louder and prouder.
“When you hire an executive director, part of the role is external relations,” she adds. “So all of a sudden you have a name and a face that you associate with this work.” Without that visibility the work can be seen as “obscure.” There is no reason, she says, “to minimize the importance of this work or how much people rely on the support of others to navigate their health.”
Cynthia Lin, president of the board of WMF Wisconsin, says Muldrow was the perfect choice for the group’s first executive director. “Ali is the dream for the future of WMF,” she says. “She has a deep and intersectional commitment to abortion access — to making sure that people who need abortions, people who are facing pregnancy decisions, are met with compassion and care and love and resources.”
Lin says Muldrow is also an “incredible strategist when it comes to building a resource base.” All nonprofit organizations need a robust fundraising strategy, and there’s a political element to raising funds for abortion care, says Lin. “Abortion funding is a political act and a commitment. It’s really understanding that by giving to the Women’s Medical Fund, people who are part of that are acting on a commitment that people in our community deserve to be able to enact their reproductive autonomy and it’s a collective responsibility that they are met with support and resources.
“Ali really understands that,” Lin continues, “and connects the dots between direct support that’s driven and grounded by values of racial equity, gender justice, economic justice and compassion with building a home where people really committed to that can be a part of.”
The decision to hire an executive director emerged from a recent strategic planning process undertaken by the board of WMF Wisconsin. The process also clarified the group’s strategic priorities, says Lin, which include: increasing funding for abortions and practical support; building community power for culture and political change; raising the group’s visibility in the community so everyone knows how to get an abortion; and building organizational infrastructure.
The group is also looking to hire an operations manager for bookkeeping and grant management.
The Women’s Medical Fund was founded in 1972 by Anne Nicol Gaylor, who also co-founded the Freedom from Religion Foundation, Bob West, a chemistry professor at UW-Madison, and Peggy West, a social worker. For years Gaylor ran the fund from her office at Freedom from Religion or her home, with friends, family and other volunteers helping out. In the late 1980s the group distributed about $29,000 worth of aid a year, helping about 280 women. It is considered to be the oldest, continuously operating, statewide abortion fund in the nation.
The group’s budget is now just under $1 million; donations come primarily from individuals and foundations. In 2022 it paid about $500,000 for abortion care and travel costs for almost 1,500 people. It maintains an office at an undisclosed location and is part of a national network of abortion funds.
WMF Wisconsin no longer operates a help line, but instead subcontracts with POWERS (Pregnancy Options Wisconsin: Education, Resources & Support Inc.), which provides information on pregnancy options and helps arrange appointments and other logistics like travel. Clinics now bill WMF Wisconsin directly for costs related to abortion services. “Anybody who asks us for money gets money right now," says Muldrow.
An East High graduate, Muldrow has three children, two of whom attend Madison schools. Her partner is a teacher in the district. She intends to stay on the school board and predicts she will get some criticism for that decision from anti-abortion advocates: “If you say you care about kids, how can you kill them?”
Muldrow, a former school board president first elected to the board in 2019 and reelected in 2022, says she believes the school board needs “continuity and stability.” She notes she is one of just a few current school board members who also served before the pandemic and says this institutional memory is important to preserve. As Isthmus reported in February 2022, the board has recently come under criticism for a lack of leadership.
The board will also soon be picking a new district leader. “I think it’s important when you bring on a new superintendent that they know they have a team that is willing to stick with them.”
The way she sees it, her work in education relates to the work she will be doing with the Women’s Medical Fund. “Education is about critical thinking. I think being able to think for yourself is one of the most important things you can do. And abortion is about self-determination so those things are related in obvious ways.”
Muldrow had her second abortion when she was 18. At the time she was working at Central Wisconsin Center, a state facility in Madison for people with intellectual disabilities. She was able to get a medical abortion, with the costs completely covered through her state health insurance. Most abortions are now prohibited under public insurance plans due to a law signed by Gov. Scott Walker in 2018.
Reproductive autonomy is personal to Muldrow on many levels, including as a Black woman. She says knowing the history of slavery in the United States, which included the forced impregnation of Black women, has made her sensitive to how reproduction can be used against people in ways that are cruel and inhumane. “I think it makes me more aware of where race and gender and sexuality intersect,” she says.
Being the face of the WMF Wisconsin brings another dimension to the work of the group, Muldrow adds: “A Black woman having a visible leadership role in this conversation confronts a history of a lack of bodily autonomy for Black women.”
