Anti-Abortion Centers Compete For Federal Funds Forfeited By Planned Parenthood

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Planned Parenthood has given away about $60 million when it left a federal family planning program this summer in opposition to a new Trump administration rule barring clinics from referring women for abortions.

In Texas, a network of eight Christian pregnancy centers is fighting for that Title X funding as it makes plans to take the unprecedented step of offering female contraceptives next year.

The Source’s move marks a change for faith-based pregnancy centers that oppose abortion and generally do not provide birth control, while they preach premarital abstinence.

Andy Schoonover, chief executive for The Source, said the nonprofit organization currently provides sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, first-trimester prenatal care, ultrasound, pregnancy tests and so-called well-women checkups.

In 2020, it will add contraceptive options including pills, injections, and intrauterine devices to its services as the organization seeks an additional 20 clinics across Texas. A range of clinics will not provide the morning-after pill or copper-based IUDs.

Schoonover said the organization’s plan to offer birth control is based on its focus on being proactive in reducing unplanned pregnancies.

“I looked at it and I said, ‘Hey, what if we’re proactive about this so we can actually engage these women before they become pregnant so we don’t see them for an unplanned pregnancy?'” Schoonover said. “And I think that’s something that the political left and the political right can all get behind.”

Unlike Planned Parenthood, The Source does not provide abortions or refer patients to other clinics for them. Schoonover said the organization makes that clear to patients when they book appointments and on intake forms so they aren’t misled.

Professor Kimberly Kelly, who researches faith-based pregnancy centers and serves as director of Gender Studies at Mississippi State University, said she had never heard of a crisis pregnancy center that offered contraceptives and called the action of The Source is anomalous.

“So, it seems like a very practical compromise on the part of The Source centers where they recognize that the anti-contraception position is not in line with where American women are,” Kelly said. “This center is like, ‘If they say they want it, we’ll give it to them.'”

Evelyn Delgado, the chairwoman of the Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition, said if The Source’s action is successful, it could prompt other faith-based pregnancy centers to offer contraceptives.

“I’m waiting to see what the reaction is, like how women feel supported in the sites, because traditionally they are not contraceptive providers,” said Delgado. “But it’s good to know that there will be more contraceptive providers for women to have access to.”

Texas, which has passed some of the nation’s strictest anti-abortion laws, has stumbled in efforts to strengthen women’s health services in the past after Republican lawmakers cut Planned Parenthood.

In 2016, the state hired an evangelical anti-abortion organization called the Heidi Group to help bolster small clinics that specialize in women’s health like Planned Parenthood but don’t offer abortion. An Associated Press investigation found that the group was nowhere near fulfilling its promise to serve 50,000 women. Last year, the state cancelled $6 million in troubled contracts with the organization.

Schoonover said the Source is not affiliated with the Heidi Group.

State investigators announced last week that the Heidi Group have debt the state of more than $1.5 million for reimbursement payments that may have been inflated or that the state should not have paid.