Pro-life centers across the country are receiving tens of millions of tax dollars to talk women out of ending their pregnancies, a nearly fivefold increase from a decade ago that resulted from an often-overlooked effort by mostly Republican-led states.
The nonprofits known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers are typically religiously affiliated and counsel clients against having an abortion as part of their free but limited services. Most centers offer pregnancy tests and pregnancy-related counseling. Some also offer limited medical services such as ultrasounds.
An AP tally based on state budget figures reveals that nearly $89 million has been allocated to such centers across a dozen states this fiscal year. A decade ago, the annual funding for the programs hovered around $17 million in eight states.
Estimates of how many abortions have been prevented by such programs are unknown because many states only require reports of how many clients were served. Similarly, as abortion rates have declined across the U.S. there is no way to know the extent to which the pregnancy centers have played a role.
What is clear is that taxpayer funding for the centers has spiked in recent years as more Republican-led states have passed legislation severely limiting access to abortion.
Supporters hope to expand the number of centers if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns or significantly restricts abortion rights in a case to be decided later this year.