Democrats in the state House are calling for funding cuts to anti-abortion pregnancy centers. Known as crisis pregnancy centers, the facilities provide services to pregnant women and discourage them from seeking abortions.
The groups currently receive $6.75 million a year from the state budget, and they've received additional funding in past budget cycles.
Rep. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake, filed a bill last week to stop that funding and redirect it to other maternal and infant health programs. She says the pregnancy centers have little oversight and are getting thousands of dollars per patient.
"This is just another example of us spending taxpayer money and absolutely having no evidence to show that it's doing anything," she said. "This really isn't about what these centers believe. It's about what they owe the taxpayers who fund them."
The House budget passed last year would reduce pregnancy center funding by $750,000 to $6 million, but the Senate's proposed spending plan doesn't change the current funding amount. The two chambers are months late in reaching a final budget agreement.
The money goes to the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship, also known as LifeLink Carolina, which then distributes the funds to individual centers. The group's website says its goal is to help women "receive the pregnancy information they need to make healthy, well-informed choices for their future."
Democrats have tried before to remove the funding, but haven't gotten support from Republicans, who defend the centers as a valuable community resource.
Von Haefen's bill would require pregnancy centers to file reports detailing how they've spent state funding. "These are not burdensome requirements," she said. "Any well-run organization receiving public funds should already have this information. We're simply asking them to share it, because if you're doing good work with the public's money, you'd think you'd want to tell everyone about it."
She said the state needs to fund proven maternal and infant health programs because North Carolina currently "ranks among the worst states for maternal and infant mortality and prenatal access care."
Von Haefen says that while there are 100 crisis pregnancy centers across the state, the number of abortion clinics — which also provide non-abortion healthcare services — has dropped to nine, down from 14 just three years ago.
She was joined by religious leaders at a news conference Tuesday to promote the bill and raise concerns about the centers.
"We know that the people of North Carolina are being deceived," said Rabbi Hannah Bender of Durham. "Crisis pregnancy centers masquerade as medical facilities without being regulated as such. Visitors are often misled about the care offered by staff or volunteers who are typically not licensed providers. Studies show that these centers delay the onset of prenatal care, putting pregnant folks at risk, and these centers themselves cannot offer prenatal care."
