Who we are

Digital Defense Fund was established in 2017 in response to the increased need for security and technology resources in the abortion rights movement after the 2016 election.

DDF is a multidisciplinary team of organizers, engineers, designers, abortion fund and practical support volunteers. We bring our own personal histories with abortion access and technology together to build for the people we love working with and learning from.

We work to support and expand the capacity of abortion rights and provider organizations, and individual organizers. We invite you to get in touch with any of your questions about how to get started with improving digital security at your organization, and find out more about how we can help you reach your goals.

Our mission

Our mission is to leverage technology to defend and secure access to abortion. We envision a future where technology and innovation support secure, autonomous reproductive decisions, free from stigma.

We work to accomplish our mission by providing digital security and technology support to organizations and individuals working in the abortion access movement. Our small but mighty team works hand in hand with our grantees as partner, service provider, and funder to ensure they have the solutions they need to achieve their goals. 

Our Values

Our values at Digital Defense Fund help us every day to define our work, set goals, make decisions, hold ourselves accountable, and imagine futures. They are a challenge and an aspiration, a living process, and a celebration of our connection to one another.

Care

  • We believe that care includes working against systems of oppression in the world, in our movement, and in our interpersonal relationships. 

  • We understand that tech security can be emotional, and we create and defend space for judgment-free support. Hands-on support is core to our model of work and our theory of change. Time spent side-by-side creates lasting change and real solutions.

Justice

  • We work to center the people most affected by surveilled and insecure technologies, the most targeted for criminalization and incarceration, and the realistic threats they face.

  • We believe in a human right to private, accessible, trustworthy technology to meet our everyday needs.

Courage

  • We work with the abortion access movement to move from a place of fear to action by providing open, honest information and ongoing support so we can build our communities' wildest dreams. 

  • We encourage experiments that might fail. We believe the best start to having a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.

Collaboration

  • We believe security is primarily a function of community, not technology.

  • We work in solidarity across borders and movements as one of many organizations in a global movement working for digital civil liberties and liberation.

Creativity

  • We believe in the power of creative expression; we use art, drama, games, and fun to learn & teach digital security.

  • We honor technology as a form of human expression and a powerful tool for change.

  • We imagine a future none of us has seen yet, where technology supports autonomous reproductive decisions, free from stigma.