As a physician and women’s health equality advocate, I am deeply disturbed that GoFundMe withheld $2,700 in support from a mother in Zimbabwe during Choice42’s fundraising campaign.
Here are the facts. In the past, GoFundMe corporate leadership publicly organized support for Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, recent reports state GoFundMe denied support for a pregnant woman in Zimbabwe while allowing the same support, through the same fundraising charity (Choice42), for pregnant women in the United States and Canada. Choice42 followed all GoFundMe protocol exactly the same way for all three mothers.
Put together, these events demonstrate a deep anti-woman hypocrisy that, on the surface, also appears motivated by regionalist and racist tendencies. These discriminatory attitudes are, unfortunately, quite common in modern women’s health activism: I have literally read public health books by pro-euthanasia organizations pushing impoverished, “undesirable” women to have less children in favor of the outdated “rich white babies only” Malthusian population model. In fact, in the US, clinical abortion surveys demonstrate that 30 percent of Black people in my generation have been systematically eliminated by the subtle public health measures that target minority areas over wealthy white suburbia. It appears that, like other health discrimination “charities,” GoFundMe does not believe everyone is welcome on this planet–just members of wealthy nations and privileged social groups.
I have previously raised support on GoFundMe for a friend in need in Uganda, and supported various other medical needs campaigns there–I will be doing so no more. Unless GoFundMe provides an adequate answer quickly, and releases funds to support this woman in need, I will be initiating a boycott of GoFundMe for all my future fundraising needs. I will also begin posting weekly about GoFundMe’s discriminatory behavior until the issue is resolved. The world doesn’t need GoFundMe: Paypal and Change.org both offer fundraising options. I invite you to please contact GoFundMe for further information about Choice42’s campaign.
Choice42’s support for women suffering health disparities can be found here: https://www.choice42.com/resources
You will need the GoFundMe campaign URL for the Zimbabwean woman to contact GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-cover-birth-expenses-for-young-mom
The contact form lives here: https://www.gofundme.com/contact/suggest
Thank you for caring about women in need.
Jen Finelli, MD
byjenfinelli.com
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