The Private Pilots Flying Abortion Seekers Across The Midwest

Organizers and private pilots in the Midwest are working together to address economic barriers to reproductive freedom.

By Lucas Frisancho, Next City

In the fall of 2022, Mike climbed into the pilot’s seat with an idea.

For the past few months, the private pilot had been volunteering with the Illinois-based Midwest Access Coalition, an abortion support fund that he’d come across in his post-George Floyd anti-racism journey.

“I thought, there’s gotta be people out there helping people travel for abortions, because it’s not like every medical facility you go to provide abortion care,” says Mike. Next City has agreed to use Mike’s first name only to protect his safety and privacy as he engages in this sensitive work. “So I reached out to say, hey, I want to volunteer for anything you might need – driving, hosting, whatever.”

But he also wanted to share a proposal: What if recreational pilots like himself could volunteer their skills to get abortion seekers the care they needed?

For over a decade, the Midwest Access Coalition has worked to provide financial and logistical support for abortion seekers in the region, which includes Indiana, Missouri, Iowa and other states with the country’s most restrictive abortion bans.

MAC coordinates a unique plan for each client — most of whom are traveling to Illinois for an abortion — coordinating the logistics of hotels and transportation while also navigating the constellation of different laws governing the right to abortion.

Well before the overturning of Roe v. Wade two years ago, thousands of Americans were already facing economic barriers that put abortion out of reach. But the fall of Roe exacerbated these issues even in states where abortion remains legal, forcing them to shoulder an increasing burden.

To help meet the growing need, the Midwest Access Coalition has had to get increasingly creative. That’s meant collaboration with other practical support funds across the nation – and working with Mike to build a network of volunteer pilots to offer low-cost air travel that could take MAC’s work to new heights.