I was planning to start this blog by writing about The New York Times Sunday Magazine’s special issue on income inequality — Larry Summers (him again!), John Edwards, class conflict on Fisher Island and much more. But a practical instance of what true poverty means was waiting for me in my inbox this morning, in the form of an email from Heather Robertson of the Equal Access Fund of Tennessee, which helps poor women pay for their abortions. Heather writes:

“I just received a very desperate plea from a local clinic for funding for a patient that I will be unable to help. Our fund has assisted 5 women this month and after giving this woman $200, we have depleted our funds without completely helping her at all. Please read further:

“We need $400 more in order to pay the fee $850 fee of a 2nd trimester patient who HAS to be seen tomorrow, or she’ll be too far along to be seen in the state of Tennessee. In that case, her fee will increase even more and have to pay the traveling expenses, as well.

“She’s raised $250 and we have given the clinic $200 on her behalf thus far.

“She’s a single mom with a 19 month old; co-conceiver skipped town; no child support because that dude skipped town; she is clinically very depressed and extremely desperate. She makes less than $800 a month working fulltime. She makes too much to get any state aid and definitely not covered by TNCare. She becamse pregnant after her birth control failed to prevent her pregnancy. Can you help by sending a paypal donation to [email protected] asap?

” “She has an appointment at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning. “

What a world of hurt is packed into this brief communication! And what a lesson in practical economics. This woman’s wages of around $800 a month after taxes put her over the limit for TennCare, the state’s medical program– while leaving her not even close to being able to pay for her abortion herself. (Tenncare doesn’t pay for abortion, but it would pay for some of the associated costs included in the fee.) Yet this same $800– a month’s expenses for this woman and her child, or the price of her reproductive freedom — is less than the amount Gabby, one of the Los Angeles teenagers whose views on money are featured in the Times, thinks is reasonable to spend on a purse (‘If you want a really nice, classic bag, it’s definitely appropriate to spend, like, four digits, because that’s something that’s really nice”).

$800 is also about what the Equal Access Fund has to give out each month to women in need– money raised dollar by dollar through donations, eBay garage sales and fundraisers. Fortunately, as I’ve been writing this, Heather e mailed me to say that the $400 this woman still needs has been raised thanks to donations that came in through her e mail. But what about the next woman and the ones after that? $800 doesn’t go very far — it won’t even let Gabby accessorize her outfit.

How wonderful it would be if everyone reading this story sent the Fund a donation. Just go to Paypal, and send [email protected] whatever you can spare: the price of a latte or a copy of the Sunday Times or a (big) bag of chips or a beer or a movie ticket (Or, of course, for you lucky loaded few, a handbag!). I should mention that the Fund is an all-volunteer organization, so every dollar you send will go to patient care. And it’s affiliated with the National Network of Abortion Funds, so it’s tax-deductible and you know it’s well-run.

You can write Heather Robinson at [email protected].

Check out the fund at its myspace page

Find out more at their NNAF member page

And while you’re there, browse the NNAF site and see if there’s a local fund in your area. Chances are, they definitely could use your help.