Austin Abortion Access Hackathon

Texan abortion providers are constantly under threat— legislatively, physically and are talked about like they are social pariahs. At the same time, nearly 1 in 4 (cis)women have an abortion in their lifetime. Politicians do not center their needs. Society is ambivalent.

Tech has addressed problems like getting cookies immediately at 3 am or getting a ride anywhere, at any time. But, tech has largely ignored the barriers to abortion access.

When a person searches for abortion in google, fake anti-abortion clinics pop up. When a person searches for abortion information, the digital landscape is littered with misinformation.

Clinics don't have the resources to combat this misinformation.

Here's where we come in! The Abortion Access Hackathon has hosted three previous Hackathons across the country, and in June 2018, we're coming to Austin!

We do a needs assessment with local abortion clinics to find out what they could use help with. A new website? A program to streamline their volunteer vetting?

We welcome software engineers, data scientists, designers, communications and branding experts. Tech experts are partnered with a clinic to work together to create solutions that improve the ability for clinics to do their work.

In most hackathons, the participants are 80% male. Our participants are 80% female.

We center the client. We teach the participants about the intersectional barriers of race, economic challenges, language and ability. We talk about the value of teen pregnancy, queer parenting, adoption and abortion. We create space for feminist activism in tech, exporting these values back to the heavily male dominated industry.

Financé par Austin, TX (May 2018)