In the wake of a pandemic that drove children, in particular, deeper into poverty, Pennsylvania stripped safety-net money away from poor children to gave it to anti-abortion activists.
The Commonwealth has so much federal aid surplus that they stashed billions of dollars away for later use. Nonetheless, Pennsylvania took $1 million away from children in poverty and gave it to “Real Alternatives,” the Pennsylvania-based network of “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs).
CPCs are anti-abortion organizations that try to intercept people facing an unplanned pregnancy while searching for healthcare with the goal of dissuading, or preventing, access to abortion. Key players in the global anti-abortion movement, CPCs often affiliate with large anti-abortion organizations that steer their messaging and tactics. In turn, some CPCs funnel detailed client data to anti-abortion organizations maintaining “digital dossiers” on clients.
Last year, a watchdog group called on Pennsylvania officials to defund Real Alternatives in a public complaint that detailed extensive allegations of the organization wasting and misusing public funds. We are unaware meaningful action has been taken to investigate these claims, despite the call to investigate being echoed by lawmakers in the Women’s Health Caucus, before not only refunding, but double-funding Real Alternatives. We are also unaware of any state effort to assess the quality and content of services CPCs are offering pregnant Pennsylvanians, even though some state-funded CPCs are promoting a practice medical experts call “experimental and unproven.”
The $1 million taken from children in poverty via TANF was extra money given to Real Alternatives in addition to $6,263,000 in general state funds.
According to a recent report outlining states that fail to hold CPCs accountable for how they spend public funds, Pennsylvania has been diverting funding intended to help children in poverty and quietly giving it to anti-abortion activists since 2001.
Pennsylvania is a Dangerous Place to Be Pregnant
Anti-abortion activists often say the accusation that they obsess over coercing childbirth but ignore the health of pregnant people and children is just a stereotype. Yet, this unfortunate reality is reflected in both the budget and policy priorities of Pennsylvania’s anti-abortion lawmakers.
Pennsylvania’s anti-abortion state lawmakers are currently advancing a “fetal burial” bill to force Pennsylvanians to bury their miscarriage (HB 118), while refusing to pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (HB 990/SB 716).
In other words, anti-abortion lawmakers in Pennsylvania are trying to force you to bury your miscarriage while refusing to help you avoid having one.
Without these protections, employers can block a worker from following doctor’s orders by, for example, refusing to allow her to keep an extra bottle of water at her workstation. We know enabling these denials results in preventable injuries, including miscarriage. Pennsylvania’s anti-abortion lawmakers’ refusal to protect pregnant workers amid COVID-19 has meant pregnant workers were forced back to physical workplaces with fewer options for avoiding unnecessary exposure to the potentially fatal virus than pregnant workers in most other states.
Another hint Pennsylvania lawmakers’ “pro-life” passion stops at birth is that they won’t even support enabling more infants to have access to the health benefits of mother’s milk. Pennsylvania’s anti-abortion lawmakers have refused to collectively support legislation designed to improve infant health by enabling new mothers to express breast milk in private, sanitary space in the workplace so they can continue breastfeeding at home.
And of course, that dynamic plays out in the fact that the executives earning six-figure salaries running Real Alternatives have quietly accepted money earmarked children in poverty for years—on top of the more than $100 million they’ve received in public funds since the mid-1990s.
Tell Your Reps You Oppose Double-Funding CPCs
If you don’t think Pennsylvania should be in the business of double-funding anti-abortion activists, tell your Representative you oppose public funding of crisis pregnancy centers.
Are you angry about your tax dollars funding crisis pregnancy centers? Let us know!
Women’s Law Project is a public interest law center in Pennsylvania devoted to advancing and defending the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in Pennsylvania and beyond. As a non-profit organization, we can not do this work without you. Please consider supporting our work.
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