Our story

In 1969, Joyce Schorr was a college freshman in Atlanta when her best friend became pregnant and traveled out of state for an illegal abortion. When her friend returned, she began to hemorrhage. In those days, hospitals had “septic wards” for women with complications, but seeking care meant risking arrest — and being pressured to identify the provider. Her friend survived because her father happened to be a doctor. Not everyone was so fortunate.

Thirteen years later, a chance encounter that Joyce had with NOW activists outside a Carl’s Jr. restaurant brought it all back. Learning that the chain’s former owner was funding anti-choice causes with the profits from his business, Joyce made a decision: she would spend her life making sure no one else went through what her friend had.

In 1989, Joyce raised the idea of an abortion fund for low-income women through NCJW/LA‘s pro-choice satellite. WRRAP was founded, and as the organization grew, it became its own 501(c)(3) in 1991 — the same year we helped establish the National Network of Abortion Funds, of which WRRAP is a founding member. Today, Joyce remains actively involved as founder and president, and it is because of her vision and leadership that WRRAP has grown into the largest nonprofit abortion fund in the nation.

WRRAP has always operated on a high-efficiency volunteer model, directing 90% of donated funds directly to individuals in need. In 2018, WRRAP hired its first paid position, and Sylvia Ghazarian was brought on as Executive Director. Sylvia brings a long track record of advocacy to the role, and leads WRRAP’s fundraising growth, affiliate network expansion, and collaborative advocacy work with reproductive rights organizations across the country.

None of what WRRAP has built over the past three decades would exist without the clinics, doctors, and staff who show up every day to provide care — under pressure, and in the face of real hostility. WRRAP takes thousands of calls from hundreds of clinics each year, and we are honored to work alongside every one of them.