Did you know that Texas uses taxpayer dollars to directly fund anti-choice crisis pregnancy centers?

In Fiscal Year 2005-06, for the first time in state history, Texas lawmakers decided to directly fund anti-choice Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs).  A budget rider allocated $5 million toward unregulated and unlicensed CPCs. Even worse, that same $5 million was originally to be spent on preventive health screenings and contraceptive services.  According to the Department of State Health Services, it is estimated that due to this funding shift, over 16,000 low-income Texas women will lose access to preventative health care and family planning services.   

The deception practiced by and at CPCs is well-documented. In July 2006, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) released a study which found that crisis pregnancy centers often mislead and misinform teenagers about the medical risks of abortion. Investigators posing as pregnant 17-year olds seeking medical counseling called more than two dozen CPCs that receive federal funding. The report found that 87 percent of these CPCs provided either false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion. Specifically, several center employees told the women that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer, despite the overwhelming medical consensus that no such link exists. In addition, callers were incorrectly told that abortion could cause "permanent damage" that would affect their future ability to bear children. Finally, many centers continued to advance the myth of "post-abortion trauma syndrome," even though scientific evidence shows that abortion does not cause significant long-term psychological harm.

Lomi Kriel, Family Planning Losing, Anti-Abortion Gaining, San Antonio Express News, May 19, 2005; United States House of Representatives Committee On Government Reform, False and Misleading Health Information Provided by Federally Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers (2006), at http://reform.democrats.house.gov/Documents/20060717101140-30092.pdf (last visited Jan. 19, 2007).