Florida Republicans are likely to hand out $25 million to anti-abortion pregnancy centers in the coming days, and the GOP-controlled state Senate just killed a measure that would have ensured state oversight of those centers.
Florida’s $25 million annual allocation of taxpayer money is tucked into the six week abortion ban that is moving quickly through the state legislature and could land on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk as early as next week. Democrats know they have little power to stop the bills, so many are introducing amendments in an attempt to make a severely restrictive bill less extreme.
Democratic State Senator Lori Berman filed an amendment to the Senate bill on Wednesday, which seeks to impose three requirements on millions in state funds.
The amendment required all organizations that received funding to use “only licensed ultrasound technicians,” comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) patient confidentiality requirements, and conduct annual financial audits of each organization that received funding. receive any of the state funds. .
“I would like to enshrine this in law. It shouldn’t be a problem,” Berman said Thursday afternoon on the Senate floor. “As good stewards of our taxpayer dollars, let’s enshrine this in law and make sure they’re doing these things to protect people who go to clinics.”
The Republican-majority body voted against the amendment.
“Audits are conducted regularly, consistent with other state laws, and these organizations are held accountable with monthly follow-up,” said Republican Sen. Erin Grall, a sponsor of the bill. “There is no need for this amendment at this time.”
Republicans argue that the $25 million will be used for support services for pregnant women and their children, including the supply of critical products like diapers and formula, which may be partly true. But anti-abortion pregnancy centers, sometimes referred to as crisis pregnancy centers, they are known for selling misinformation based on religious rhetoric that is not medically accurate.
Crisis pregnancy centers are religious organizations that claim to offer pregnancy services such as pregnancy tests, contraception, prenatal care, and in some cases, abortion services. But pregnant women who come in are discouraged from having an abortion and given scientifically inaccurate information by staff who often have no medical training or licenses.
Like Florida reporters Laura Morel and Clara-Sophia Daly explained last week for local research output reveal, the $25 million in funding does little to fix the systemic problems of crisis pregnancy centers in Florida.
“While the bill would pump millions into the center cause, it does nothing to increase oversight of the pregnancy center industry in Florida,” Morel and Daly wrote. “Most centers operate in a sort of regulatory dead zone, free of significant state and federal oversight. Most states, including Florida, do not require pregnancy centers that provide medical services to be licensed or inspected. They are also not required to comply with the federal patient privacy law known as HIPAA. In many states, tanning salons, massage parlors, and even pet stores face much stricter oversight.”
The $25 million will be given annually to the Florida Pregnancy Care Network, which is a statewide alliance of “pregnancy support organizations” that provides services at 100 locations, according to the group’s website. Although the network’s contract with the state Department of Health forbids religious coercion, the network spent state funds on educational materials to “create opportunities for counselors to share Christ” with patients, which was listed as “counseling” for the state of Florida, according to the pro-abortion group Floridians for Reproductive Freedom.
“Actually, it doesn’t surprise me that the party pushing for a near-total ban on abortion doesn’t want accountability measures for the nearly 100 crisis pregnancy centers operating in this state,” Berman told HuffPost in a statement sent by email Thursday night.
“These are organizations that prey on the emotions of low-income, young, vulnerable women and girls who are simply seeking good professional medical advice at a difficult time in their lives,” she said. “Instead, they are met with deception, misinformation, and often evangelical Christians who directly proselytize them. These centers will receive $25 million under the bill.”
Florida already uses taxpayer dollars to fund crisis pregnancy centers In 2022, the state awarded $4.45 million to anti-abortion pregnancy centers through the Florida Pregnancy Care Network.
About a dozen other states across the country use taxpayer funds for faith-based crisis pregnancy centers intended to discourage women from obtaining abortion services. The Texas budget includes most of the funding for crisis pregnancy centers, allocating $50 million a year. But budgets vary: Kansas spends about $338,000 on abortion facilities, while Pennsylvania spends just under $6 million, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research organization.
“But $25 million is a lot of money for these kinds of programs,” Elizabeth Nash, senior policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute, told HuffPost.
State legislators have tried and failed many times over the years to regulate crisis pregnancy centers to ensure that state dollars are used appropriately. But part of the problem, Nash said, is that the people who allocate the funds don’t see these requirements as necessary.
“What I’ve seen is states pouring money into abortion centers as a way of saying, ‘Look, we’re trying to support people carrying their pregnancies to term, and the word of these organizations is good enough.’ Nash said. “Never mind the fact that anti-abortion centers disparage abortion and contraception and deceive people who come to them interested in those services.”
The six-week abortion ban is expected to pass but won’t take effect until the Florida Supreme Court rules on a challenge to the state’s current 15-week abortion ban.
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