North Carolina Democratic state House representatives are demanding transparency from anti-abortion pregnancy centers that receive state taxpayer dollars.
The bill, entitled House Bill 1120: the Financial Effectiveness and Transparency Act, is the latest episode in a years-long push by the state’s Democrats to pry information out of the facilities often known as “crisis pregnancy centers,” which present themselves as alternatives to abortion clinics, in some cases offering prenatal care or education while pushing patients to carry their pregnancies to term.
Under H1120’s definition, this would include any nonprofit organization that presents itself as a healthcare facility for prenatal needs, excluding hospitals, outpatient surgery centers, and facilities that provide abortions. There are roughly 100 of these centers in North Carolina, many with religious affiliations, and they receive millions in state funding each year from Republican budget writers.
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State Rep. Julie von Haefen (D-Wake), one of the bill’s lead sponsors, held a press conference on Tuesday alongside faith leaders to advocate for the bill’s passage. Some of North Carolina’s anti-abortion pregnancy centers, she said, have reported costs as high as $3,600 per client, well above what comparable prenatal care facilities expend.
“North Carolina taxpayers expect accountability from anyone spending public money and these centers should be no exception,” von Haefen said. “This really isn’t about what these centers believe. It’s about what they owe the taxpayers who fund them.”
The office of House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill.
Republican lawmakers in Congress as well as in state legislatures have advanced legislation to shield anti-abortion pregnancy centers from state and local governments, such as by prohibiting requirements for centers to provide information about contraceptives or referrals for abortion care.
The U.S. House proposal, H.R. 2226, would also allow centers to sue state and local government entities for claims of discrimination or retaliation over their refusal to provide abortion services or offer information on obtaining them.
Von Haefen stressed that H1120 would not restrict what the centers “say or believe,” nor would it prohibit them from receiving state funding across the board.
Instead, it would bar the state from funding any anti-abortion pregnancy center that fails to meet new disclosure requirements, including full revenue and expense budgets, staff directories, client totals and services provided.
“Centers doing valuable work have nothing to fear from this bill and everything to gain. Standard reporting lets well-run centers prove their value and defend their funding,” von Haefen said. “But without transparency, taxpayers can’t know whether their dollars are going to direct client services or to marketing and administrative overhead unrelated to serving pregnant women.”
The bill would also reduce recurring funds to the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship — which the bill identifies as a network of “crisis pregnancy centers” operating in North Carolina — by $6.75 million, appropriating that money instead to expanding maternal and infant health programs under the Department of Health and Human Services.
The state director of the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship did not immediately respond to Newsline’s request for comment on the bill.
North Carolina faith leaders who spoke alongside von Haefen, however, indicated a desire to go further than the proposed legislation and end all funding for anti-abortion pregnancy centers.
“We stand here today as people of faith from many traditions united in a shared call to end state funding for crisis pregnancy centers,” said Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Durham. “When our leaders choose ideology over care, when they have the power to address injustice and choose not to, they betray the people of this state.”
Rabbi Hannah Bender of the Judea Reform Congregation in Durham said her faith requires her to oppose anti-abortion pregnancy centers that “masquerade as medical facilities without being regulated as such” because in the Talmud, “it is prohibited to deceive people.”
“Visitors are often misled about the care offered by staff or volunteers who are typically not licensed providers,” Bender said. “These centers themselves cannot provide prenatal care — they are not regulated and they lack transparency and accountability.”
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