My name is Aimee Cunningham and I’m proud to serve as board chair for Abortion in America, a nonpartisan national nonprofit dedicated to lifting up the personal experiences of people whose lives have been upended by abortion bans.

I’m hosting this fundraiser on behalf of Sue, a single mom who was already struggling to raise her daughter when she got pregnant again. Like millions of women in this country, she lives in a state where abortion is banned. Traveling to another state for health care is difficult for anyone—but Sue is part of a community whose rights are even more severely limited, and whose stories we rarely hear. Because she was on parole, she was forbidden to leave the state. She was forced to remain pregnant and give birth, monitored by the government every step of the way.

Sue’s story starts when, as a pregnant 18-year-old, she and her boyfriend were pulled over for a broken headlight. The police found a vape pen in the pocket of her boyfriend’s jacket, which she was wearing for warmth. Unlike her boyfriend, Sue had no record. In that moment, she decided to take responsibility for her boyfriend’s transgression, scared that he would be incarcerated when their child was born.

As a result, Sue was charged with a felony and sentenced to probation.

Five years later, now a mother to a young daughter, Sue got pregnant again. She sought permission to leave her state to end the pregnancy, knowing she could not afford to care for another child. Sue’s probation officer and the district attorney refused to grant her permission. When Sue appealed to the courts, her county’s Right-Wing elected officials packed the courtroom. Facing extreme political pressure, the judge denied her request.

Sue’s only choices were to flee the state, risking new charges—charges that could come with prison time, taking her away from her daughter—or raise another child she couldn’t afford.

Though the decision to remain pregnant and give birth was not hers, Sue loves her daughters fiercely. She works around the clock to provide for them on her own, since her boyfriend died in a shooting months after their younger daughter was born. Sue works an hourly wage job, pulling double shifts whenever she can get them. She pays $800 in rent, food for three, including diapers and baby formula, plus rides to work, and daycare costs times two. She is also required to cover the expenses for her court-mandated monitoring: hundreds of dollars every month. Now 23, she still has five more years before her state monitoring and probation and fees end.

Lawyers I know and trust are working pro-bono to help Sue and end the relentless punishment and surveillance imposed on her by the government. In the meantime, the money raised by this fundraiser will be used to defray the costs of feeding, clothing, and supporting her family, and help Sue build a safety net for her daughters.

As Sue says: “I am a hard worker and am trying my best to do whatever I can to give my kids a better life than I had. One day I want them to come back from school and daycare to a real home. I pray about it every day.”

If you are able, please consider helping Sue and her girls by donating here.