Abortion rights activists oppose Republican proposal to fund crisis pregnancy centers

DES MOINES — As Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Republicans seek to bump up funding for pregnancy centers that discourage abortion, abortion rights advocates warned about the credibility and safety of the facilities, known as crisis pregnancy centers.

Crisis pregnancy centers are often religiously affiliated, non-medically licensed facilities that discourage abortions and provide things like free ultrasounds, counseling, and baby clothes and other supplies. Critics, including some medical associations, say the centers provide misleading information and delay legitimate medical attention.

Representatives from Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, as well as people who have experience working in and receiving care from crisis pregnancy centers, said at a news conference Wednesday the proposed $1.5 million increase in funding to the 55 centers in the state would further erode reproductive health care.

“They do not provide actual medical care,” said Mazie Stilwell, a lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa. “Instead, they push false, religiously laced propaganda on people to dissuade them from having an abortion.”

A wide-ranging bill proposed by Reynolds moving through the Iowa Legislature would increase funding to crisis pregnancy centers from $500,000 to $2 million and expand the program to include initiatives that support expecting fathers.

In a statement, Reynolds said the centers provide ultrasounds, counseling, and supplies to expecting mothers. She noted the centers are more widespread, with 55 centers around the state, compared to nine Planned Parenthood centers.

“Through their criticism of these cost-free options, Planned Parenthood proves they are not interested in promoting healthy families, but rather just promoting abortion,” Reynolds said. “As a pro-life governor, I will do everything I can to support healthy families, not destroy them.”

Ray Garbers, who is a transgender man, said he went to a crisis pregnancy center when he was 19 after finding out he was pregnant. Garbers received “unwanted religious information” at the first appointment, he said. The center provided an ultrasound but they were unable to locate the pregnancy.

“I assumed she was a doctor or nurse, as they had told me she was a nurse,” Garbers said. “I didn’t know that it was a medically unlicensed facility.”

The center said Garbers was likely going to miscarry or the pregnancy was not as far along as the center thought, Garbers said. Instead, Garbers found out he had had an ectopic pregnancy when he visited an emergency room with intense abdominal pain two days later.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus, and it can be life-threatening if left untreated. Doctors told Garbers the pregnancy had ruptured in the fallopian tube, and he was hemorrhaging blood, and he could have died if his visit to the emergency room was delayed.

“As a crisis pregnancy center, or anti-abortion center, they should be required to tell they aren’t medical professionals,” Garbers said. “They should have to disclose what they are doing right away during the first appointment.”

Abortion is legal up to 20 weeks in Iowa. Reynolds is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a district court decision that blocked a 2018 law that would have banned abortions once cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, usually around six weeks.

Republican leaders have said they will wait on the court’s decision before proposing any more abortion restrictions, but some Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban abortion pills, also known as medication abortions, in the state.

Reynolds’ bill also includes provisions creating a family medicine obstetrics fellowship program, paid parental leave for state employees, and allowing pharmacists to dispense birth control without a prescription. A Senate panel advanced a pared-down version of the bill on Tuesday that did not include the birth control provision. A House committee is set to consider the bill next week.

Rep. Ann Meyer, a Republican from Fort Dodge, the chair of the House Health and Human Services Committee, said she disagreed with the characterization that crisis pregnancy centers are misleading. They conform to health privacy laws and provide important resources, including supplies and parenting classes, to expecting parents, she said.

“They don’t provide medical care, generally speaking,” she said. “But what they do provide is resources, and they make appointments for you to see a doctor … We want to see babies not only survive the womb, but we want to see them thrive outside the womb.”