Each month, a different IVRF member congregation has volunteered to prepare and deliver care and appreciation bags for abortion patients and/or staff at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Chapel Hill. Congregations are asked to purchase enough materials for anywhere from 50-100 post-abortion care bags, and/or deliver individually wrapped baked goods/snacks and “thank you” notes for clinic staff.

Important Things to Note:

• All questions about this effort should be directed to IVRF at interfaithvoices4reprofreedom@gmail.com. *Please do not contact the Planned Parenthood clinic directly!*
• If your congregation would like to write notes for patients, please avoid using gendered language (i.e. “women,” “sister,” “mother,” etc). Also avoid language that assumes the patient is either celebrating or grieving after their abortion; please contact Emma Horst-Martz (emma.horst.martz@pppsat.org) if you would like more guidance on writing notes to patients.

Approved Items for Post-Abortion Care Bags for Patients

The following items are approved for distribution to patients. Here is a suggested Google sheet of items to order. Please feel free to use the provided links below or find similar items! If there are other items you would like to add, first get approval from IVRF.

• Maxi pads*
• Disposable heating pads (for cramps)*
• Bags of tea*
  • Herbal teas such as Lemon Ginger and Peppermint (Bigelow has caffein free)
• Fuzzy socks
• Snacks
  • Check with IVRF if want to include snacks that aren’t Welch’s Fruit Snacks or Nature Valley Honey & Oats bars
• Stress balls
  • Squeezing helps with discomfort and pain

*Item required; other items listed are nice to include if there are funds for it but not necessary. Please fundraise within your congregation and aim for 50-100 bags.

• These items will fit easily in an 8-10” tall bag, however–learn from our well-meaning mistakes :), unlike this picture, discreet plain brown paper bags tend to be preferred.
• Once the individual bags are packed, one suggestion is to accumulate them in a large clear plastic bag, with about 20 packed bags each. Storage at the clinic is limited so that is why we don’t suggest bringing a big plastic bin. Dividing up the bags also makes transport and delivery easier for all participants. We have used plastic bags recycled from (wash, dry, fold) laundry service and they worked very well. Check with interfaithvoices4reprofreedom@gmail.com if need help locating.

Care Basket for Clinic Staff

Congregations are also welcome to prepare a basket of individually wrapped snacks (things that will not spoil or need refrigeration) for about 10 staff with a nice card to top it off. This is optional but of course appreciated.

Ready to Sign Up?

Visit our SignUp page to see what months have not been adopted by a congregation yet. Contact us at interfaithvoices4reprofreedom@gmail.com to confirm your congregation’s sign up. We will let you know if there are materials left over from previous months to use in packing bags, and later on will help coordinate delivery of the bags to the clinic.

Note for the Future, “Choice” Bags

We are hoping to begin to offer the option of choice bags, with items to help a pregnant person discern their next steps without coercion from outside forces, to be distributed in a pre-approved locations.