December 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – Amid cutting off some federal revenue streams to Planned Parenthood, the Trump administration has moved to redirect family planning aid to crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) that provide abortion alternatives – something that has the abortion lobby up in arms.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ move in May to withhold Title X funds from abortion companies and redirect them to health providers that “ensure a holistic and health-centered approach” has inspired CPCs to apply for Title X grants, the Daily Caller reports. There are an estimated 2,750 CPCs in the United States, which provided care such as free ultrasounds, pregnancy tests, and post-abortion support for almost two million people in 2017.
Pro-abortion groups and commentators are crying foul. “Title X is meant to help people access quality reproductive care,” NARAL tweeted, “NOT increase the lies spread by anti-choice organizations that frequently provide NO actual healthcare services.”
Title X is meant to help people access quality reproductive care—NOT increase the lies spread by anti-choice organizations that frequently provide NO actual healthcare services. https://t.co/58fNKxsT5Y
— NARAL (@NARAL) December 17, 2018
“Critics say these clinics can be confusing to women who seek care or advice about a pregnancy without realizing their religious and anti-abortion orientation,” a Politico report says, going on to quote NARAL Pro-Choice California state director Amy Everitt as saying CPCs’ “core is as a ‘fake’ women’s health center.”
“Emboldened by an administration that wants to repeal Roe v. Wade and empower white evangelical extremists at the expense of basically everyone else, some rightwing anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers are seeking federal funding,” Prachi Gupta declares at the far-left feminist website Jezebel. “Crisis pregnancy centers deceive vulnerable patients, spreading misinformation about abortion and healthcare under the guise of offering comprehensive family planning services.”
For years CPCs have been the targets of such claims, which pro-lifers have addressed at length. Pro-lifers argue that CPCs are more transparent about their services than Planned Parenthood, which has been accused of giving women a lack of options, poor health standards, false information, and pressuring them to choose abortion.
“The record reveals that there is nothing ‘fake’ about the vital resources provided by America’s pro-life centers,” National Institute of Family and Life Advocates Vice President of Legal Affairs, Anne O’Connor, J.D. says. She argues the abortion industry’s attacks on CPCs are financially driven.
“In 1990 there were approximately 1.6 million abortions nationwide. The latest statistics show that number has decreased to approximately 900,000. At an average cost of $500 per abortion, that adds up to $250,000,000 lost income to the abortion industry per year,” O’Connor explains. “America’s pregnancy centers are decimating the abortion industry’s bottom line.”
“Title X funding should be granted to organizations dedicated to providing quality care, not abortion,” March for Life Education & Defense Fund president Jeanne Mancini told the Daily Caller. “The majority of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund big abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood, and it is time we heed this consensus by granting pregnancy resource centers.”