Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Could Compete with Planned Parenthood for Title X Funds, by Emily Ward

Pro-life crisis pregnancy centers across the United States are transforming into comprehensive women’s clinics that may soon become eligible for federal family planning funds under Title X – and compete with pro-abortion giants like Planned Parenthood, offering women a pro-life alternative.

Crisis pregnancy centers are pro-life nonprofit organizations that provide basic family planning and reproductive health services, such as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and testing for sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as counseling for pregnant and post-abortive mothers and free parenting supplies, including diapers and baby clothes.

According to the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute, 2,752 crisis pregnancy centers in the U.S. provided close to two million people with free services in 2017, saving communities an estimated $161 annually.

Now, many crisis pregnancy centers want to start providing more comprehensive medical services and hiring licensed medical staff to increase their reach and more fully accommodate women’s reproductive healthcare needs.

One notable leader in this movement is The Obria Group, a nonprofit organization that unites crisis pregnancy centers throughout the U.S. and helps them adopt a more “holistic healthcare model.”

According to Obria CEO Kathleen Eaton Bravo, Obria’s goal is to “compete nose-to-nose with the large abortion providers for the lives of unborn babies and the soul of the mothers and fathers. In other words, get the patients out of abortion clinics and into our life-affirming clinics.”

This year, Obria applied for Title X funding but was denied. As Politico reported, “the Trump administration still requires grantees to include a provider that offers hormonal birth control.” However, Obria plans to reapply “by partnering with a health center that provides contraception, though not abortion.”

Title X is a publicly-funded program under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which provides grants to clinics that offer Americans, especially those with low incomes, a broad range of family planning services.

Through Title X, Planned Parenthood currently serves over four million women a year – or 41 percent of all Title X patients. Many Planned Parenthood clinics serve as abortion clinics.

Planned Parenthood says it does not use federal funds for abortions. Many pro-life advocates, however, have argued that the Title X funding Planned Parenthood receives frees up other money within the organization that then may be used for abortions.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/emily-ward/pro-life-pregnancy-centers-could-compete-planned-parenthood-title-x-funds