Allison Tombros Korman noticed that the abortion funding movement became “split apart” after Oct. 7, 2023.
The former senior operations and strategy director at the DC Abortion Fund, Tombros Korman left the nonprofit organization after what she described as a “one-sided approach to the events and aftermath of Oct. 7.”
“It felt like, there, I was being asked to choose between my Jewish identity and the things that were important to me as a Jewish person and my belief in and passion for reproductive health and abortion access,” Tombros Korman said.
In response, she launched the Red Tent Fund, the first Jewish abortion fund providing direct support to those seeking care. The Red Tent Fund helps abortion seekers regardless of religion or any other factor, according to Tombros Korman.
The nonprofit organization partners with synagogues and national organizations, coordinates educational activities and raises awareness of the connection between the “right to abortion and religious freedom.”
Tombros Korman lives in Arlington and belongs to Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria.
Tell me about your Jewish upbringing and background.
I grew up in upstate New York going to a Conservative synagogue. I didn’t go to a Jewish day school but was an alum of Jewish summer camp for many, many years. Then when I was in high school, I got really involved in [United Synagogue Youth], so that was a huge part of my life. The folks that I met when I was 14 in USY are still some of the most important people in my life. I think that is a really beautiful thing about growing up in the Jewish world here in the U.S. — you have the opportunity to carry these friends with you for so long through your life.
Have you always been passionate about reproductive justice?
Yes, I have been working in sexual and reproductive health for my entire career. I got a master’s in health sciences from Johns Hopkins [University] and immediately went into sexual and reproductive health work. I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to work on a variety of issues within that field and from a variety of different perspectives over the course of my career. I’ve done everything from hyperlocal work to international work. I’ve worked with health care providers, with colleges and universities, directly with patients.
When I was in high school, a group of friends and I went to the Planned Parenthood in Albany, New York — not far from where I grew up — to get sexual health services, and I remember being totally shocked that the health care providers there talked to us and treated us like adults and took us seriously. It was an incredibly eye-opening experience. That experience probably had a lot to do with why I wanted to go into this work in the first place.
What’s the mission of the Red Tent Fund?
I decided to create the Red Tent Fund as a place where we could focus on domestic abortion funding through a Jewish lens, stay completely focused on that issue and not ask people to feel like they had to pick and choose various pieces of their identity. If they are Jewish or care about Jewish values and care about abortion funding in this country, then I want them to feel like they have a space in the Red Tent.
What are your responsibilities as the founder and executive director?
We are a small and mighty organization and we’re growing. We are just over a year old, so we’re still very much in [the] startup phase, which means that every day is busy. First and foremost, we’re focused on getting the money that we raise predominantly, but not exclusively, through the Jewish community. We are focused all day, every day on trying to raise as much money as we can so we can bring that money directly to abortion seekers who need it to pay for their procedures.
How does reproductive justice relate to your Jewish values?
It’s right there from the beginning: as Jews, the right to abortion is affirmed in our Jewish teachings in Parashat Mishpatim [and] in the interpretations that have come since that writing in the Torah. I think, for so long, when you think about the conversation of abortion and faith or abortion and religion, the default was to think about some of the Christian communities’ resistance or flat-out disdain for abortion. But as Jews, this is part of who we are, as our religious freedom and beliefs and reproductive freedoms. I don’t think that any one faith or religion has the final say on how another group of people understands those things for their own community.
What were the challenges that came with launching your own nonprofit?
The challenges of starting a nonprofit organization are very real. There’s a lot to get done, as with most nonprofits. We continue to be small and scrappy, but we are extremely passionate about the work that we’re doing, so [I’m] glad to be doing it.
I think some of our biggest challenges come from the fact that the abortion funding movement has really been split apart by this issue of post-Oct. 7. How do we move forward? While this was my experience at the DC Abortion Fund, the truth is, there are a lot of abortion funds around the country who were behaving similarly and pushing out members of their Jewish support network. It’s been challenging to navigate that divide within our movement, but I don’t think we have the luxury of being divided right now when abortion is under threat in our country like never before. We have plenty of work that we need to focus on and [can’t] get distracted by other issues.
